A Tale of Snail Spirals, Creative Spiders, and the Great Butterfly Escapade" 🐌🕸️🦋
Highlights from Monsoon Beauty 2024
🌧️ Monsoon Magic in India's Biodiversity 🌧️
It was the best of times, it was the monsoon of wonders! As the rains descend, nature's cast of quirky characters takes the stage. Behold the ancient Cyclophoridae snails, with shells spiraled tighter than a Victorian corset. These venerable creatures have been around since dinosaurs roamed—and they’ve perfected the art of shutting the door (operculum) on nosy neighbors!
But wait, the drama intensifies! Enter the velvet ant-mimicking spiders, masters of disguise who would surely win an Oscar for their mimicry. And fluttering in with a flair for the dramatic, the butterflies add a splash of color to this rainy day theater.
Join us in celebrating this monsoon's wild and wonderful performers!
A Tropical Land Snail with Coiled Shells: Family Cyclophoridae
- Family: Family Cyclophoridae
- a member of Apple Snails, River Snails, and Allies
- Genus : XXXX
-
Species : XXXX
- Observed by @samarth_jain
- Location : Jabalpur, IN-MP, IN
- Identifiers : @frank375
- Observed on: XX Jul 20224
- Exact Location and date obscured
The Cyclophoridae family is old. Their fossil history almost dates back to the release of Nokia 3310 from the Cenomanian age (around 100.5 and 93.9 million years ago). These ancient spirals are known for having a operculum. An operculum is a tiny door that seals the shell shut when a snail decides to exercise it's fundamental right to privacy. Slow, reclusive and forever attending a siesta, these snails would make inefficient capitalistic workers. However, their efficiency lies concentrated in their spiral structure. Ensuring a neat way of continuity, the spiral allows for growing without having to moult or change their shape over and over again.
Special feature - Samarth Jain's input:
"I found this snail in my backyard garden, and they are hard to find; at best, I think I have only found two individuals in one day. They are relatively less hard to find in the monsoons, but still, you need luck on your hands. I've also asked for ID help on Twitter from a few foreign snail experts, but I got nothing helpful."
Samarth is on instagram as samarth_jain30
Velvet-ant Mimicking Spider Coenoptychus pulcher
- Family: Corinnidae
- Genus: Coenoptychus
- Species: Coenoptychus pulcher
Animals - Arthropods - Chelicerates - Arachnids- Spiders - Typical Spiders -Entelegyne Spiders -
RTA Clade - Dionycha Clade - Ant-mimic Sac Spiders and Allies -
Ground & Ant-mimic Sac Spiders - Castianeirinae Genus Coenoptychus
- Observed by @bhuvanrajk
- Location : Karnataka, IN
- Identifiers : @sriharsha444
- Observed on: XX, Jul 2024
- Exact Location and date obscured
Myrmecomorphy or the mimicry of ants is a common practise undertaken by spiders. Similar to how BORIO has existed as long as OREO, ant-mimicry has existed for almost as long as ants have been around. Spiders and other insects mimic ants in order to prey upon them in a sneaky little manner.
Mimicry, in nature is divided into multiple categories. A few of them include:
1) Batesian mimicry appearing undesirable, such as ginger covered chocolate
2) Aggressive mimicry allowing their prey to not identify them correctly
3) Mullerian mimicry I am poisonous, do not touch me
4) Automimicry : done within the same species, when a twin sibling decides to make a mess around the house, and the blame falls on the other, they claim, "technically we are the same"
Bhuvan Raj K posts on instagram as bhuvan_widlife
Butterflies : Mud-puddling
- Observed by @nomadash
- Location : Chandaka - Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary, Khordha, OR, IN
- Identifiers : @samarth_jain & @debashischowdhury
- Observed on:Jul 24, 2024
Above is a picture of a feast being attended by Grass Yellows (the ones that look like thin slices of butter), a Five-bar Swordtail (the one with it's blades out for revenge), a Common gull (the one with little yellow petals on it's wings), Lemon Emigrants (the ones who cannot pick a colour between white and yellow) and Common Jays (The ones who decided to go against the yellow dress code). A practice indulged in by predominantly male butterflies, Mud-puddling allows for butterflies to derive nutrients from the soil. The puddles provide them with salts and amino acids, which the males later present to female butterflies while mating. Besides wet patches of soil, butterflies are also found puddling on blood, tears and sweat.
Anonymous 1 comments "My vehement sobbing has exclusively attracted the wrath of my family members who want me to leave the room and stop lamenting. I am waiting for the butterflies to come around for a good change of pace."
About the butterflies in the observation(s)
- Superfamily : Butterflies Papilionoidea
-
Family: Two
Species: Five
- Lemon Emigrant Catopsilia pomona
- Mottled Emigrant Catopsilia pyranthe*
- Five-bar Swordtail Graphium antiphates
- Common Gull Cepora nerissa *Graphium doson
- Common Jay *Graphium doson
Special feature - Nomadash input:
"This observation, along with several others, were made on a bright sunny day following three days of intense rainfall. Although this area of Chandaka Forest in Odisha is not open to the public, I managed to access a part of it with assistance from the local tribal community residing at the forest's periphery."
Nomadash also recommends taking a look at this observation of mud puddling even more butterflies
Highlights Script and Design
- along with the incredible records of the observers and the amazing identifiers this journal and media post was scripted and designed by the India's Nature Team : @hanenone @ram_k
- References - Generally the About Taxa pages on inaturalist, and Wikipedia
Latest highlights from the event are documented on
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