Fresh Sheet - June 25, 2009

“Fresh Sheet” is our weekly shipment report of pupae on display in the emerging window. Visit Pacific Science Center's Tropical Butterfly House and meet our newest residents.

London Pupae Supply – June 25, 2009

10- Cethosia cyane (Leopard Lacewing)
10- Charaxes brutus (White-barred Charaxes)
10- Charaxes castor (Giant Charaxes)
30- Charaxes cithaeron (Blue-spotted Charaxes)
5- Charaxes pollux (Black-bordered Charaxes)
5- Charaxes protoclea (Flame-bordered Charaxes)
10- Charaxes varanes (Pearl Charaxes)
30- Graphium angolanus (African White Swallowtail)
10- Graphium antheus (Large Striped Swordtail)
5- Graphium colonna (Black Swordtail)
10- Hypolimnas bolina (Great Egg-fly)
10- Idea leuconoe (Paper Kite)
5- Papilio constantinus (Constantine's Swallowtail)
30- Papilio dardanus (Mocker Swallowtail)
30- Papilio demodocus (Orchard Swallowtail)
10- Papilio helenus (Red Helen)
30- Papilio nireus (Blue-banded Swallowtail)
10- Papilio polytes (Common Mormon)
5- Salamis anacardii (Clouded Mother of Pearl)
10- Salamis parhassus (Forest Mother of Pearl)

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Fresh Sheet - June 26, 2009

El Salvador - June 24

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20- Caligo memnon (Owl Butterfly)
25- Catonephele numilia (Numilia)
10- Consul fabius (Tiger Leafwing)
20- Heliconius hecale (Tiger Longwing)
8- Heliconius ismenius (Ismenius Longwing)
12- Lycorea cleobaea (Large Tiger)
100- Morpho peleides (Blue Morpho)
30- Morpho polyphemus (White Morpho)
30- Myscelia ethusa (Royal Blue Butterfly)
10- Papilio erostratus (Dusky Swallowtail)
10- Parides photinus (Queen of Hearts)
30- Phoebis philea (Orange Barred Sulfur)
20- Prepona omphale=archeoprepona omphale (Blue Belly-Button)
10- Tithorea harmonia (Cream-Spotted Clearwing) Read more!

What's That Stuff?

Some people mistake these things for garbage on the beach. Actually, these rubbery-looking objects are live egg casings of the large, carnivorous Moon Snail (Polinices lewisii).

On a recent tidepool animal collecting trip Pacific Science Center Life Sciences staff brought back a few Moon Snail Collars for our visitors to handle and examine. During the spring and summer, female Moon Snails extrude sheaths of hardened mucus and sand filled with fertilized eggs. Although there are thousands of eggs living in a sand collar, the eggs will never produce young in our tidepool. The excellent filtration system of our Puget Sound Salt Water Tidepool will strain the eggs out of the water before they become viable.

Because clams are a dietary staple of the Moon Snail, this gastropod is unfairly maligned by some clam diggers. The prized butter clams of shell fishers are often too difficult for this snail’s drill.

Because of their size (up to 5 inches with a 12 inch foot) and destructiveness, we don’t collect Moon Snails - just their egg casings. Stop by to see and feel these fascinating organisms. They won’t be around long!

Want to learn more about Moon Snails? Go to http://www.dfw.state.or.us/mrp/shellfish/other/featured_snails.asp Read more!

Book Review

Pacific Science Center’s Life Sciences staff members are always reading and many of the books we read are science related. Considering that these books may be of interest to other readers, we will blog short reviews of a current book from time to time. Join the discussion! This review is from Life Sciences volunteer, Terry Pagos.

“The Dangerous World of Butterflies”
By Peter Laufer
Hardcover, 288 pages
The Lyons Press
List price: $24.95

I first heard about “The Dangerous World of Butterflies” from an NPR Talk of the Nation podcast last month and immediately put my name on the list at library. It was worth the wait! Peter Laufer is a journalist best known for his books reporting on war and social and political issues. So why did he write a book about butterflies? As Dr. Laufer explains in the book’s introduction, he joked at a book signing that after covering natural disasters, wars, and human cruelty he was ready to write about something to counter the anger and sadness of his previous books – something lighthearted and positive – something like butterflies. From there the adventure begins.

As soon as Dr. Laufer began researching his book, he realized that not all is harmonious in the dangerous world of butterflies. Breeders, smugglers, collectors, farmers, hobbyists, artists, scholars, poachers, researchers, conservationists and criminals all want a piece of the butterfly action. Where some see beauty, others see riches. While some struggle to keep a butterfly species from extinction, others hoard and exterminate them to make their collections more valuable. Dr. Laufer takes us up close and behind the scenes with unforgettable characters – the good guys and the bad guys, the butterfly huggers and butterfly hunters.

Throughout his explorations Dr. Laufer explains the science behind many butterfly phenomena such as migration, wing pigment and even butterfly reproduction in a readable, nontechnical style:

[p. 234] Butterflies copulate. The male grabs the female with appendages known as claspers and then uses his reproductive organ – his oedeagus – to send sperm into his partner’s reproductive system. But the sperm does not immediately fertilize the eggs. She stores it until she locates the foodplant on which her species thrives, and until she locates a spot on the foodplant that she considers prime real estate for her offspring. Once she chooses that ideal place she releases the sperm so the eggs she lays are fertilized. Her larvae feast on the foodplant directly after they emerge from the egg: their home is their dinner.

Yet there is still some mystery in the world of butterflies. Metamorphosis is magic.

For a good summer read, travel with Dr. Peter Laufer through “The Dangerous World of Butterflies.” It may very well influence your next visit to Pacific Science Center's Tropical Butterfly House.
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