Menelaus blue morpho
The Menelaus blue morpho (Morpho menelaus) is one of thirty species of butterfly in the subfamily Morphinae. Its wingspan is approximately 12 cm (4.7"), and its dorsal forewings and hindwings are a bright, iridescent blue edged with black, while the ventral surfaces are brown. Its iridescent wings are an area of interest in research because of their unique microstructure. Due to its characteristic blue color, Morpho menelaus is considered valuable among collectors and was widely hunted in the 20th century.
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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OviparousOviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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This neotropical butterfly is found in Central and South America, including the Cerrado which is a vast tropical savanna in Brazil. Other locations include Mexico and Venezuela. Ancestors of the Morpho menelaus butterfly may have been distributed in the Andean regions.Morpho menelaus is one of the six species of Morpho in Costa Rica. The genus of Morpho is present in regions beginning in Mexico and throughout South America, except Chile. Moreover, the Morpho menelaus struggle to survive in the northern Pacific area of Costa Rica since they can’t tolerate such dry conditions. They also need habitats in old growth forests with proper differentiation between the understories and canopies (Murillo-Hiller & Canet, 2018).
Females inhabit the forest understory and perch on tree stumps, but are found near the tree tops when it is time to lay eggs. Both sexes have a slow and floppy flight pattern and feed on rotting fruit that has dropped to the ground. Males tend to fly in open clearings or high in the canopy. These butterflies collectively emerge in the beginning and the end of the wet season in Cerrado. They do not appear in the middle of the wet season because the heavy rain can cause physical harm to their wings. Their emergence depends on the availability of food which is dependent on climate. For protection from the rain, Morpho menelaus prefers small and enclosed spaces.
