Fresh Sheet - November 13, 2010

This week we have 544 more pupae of 33 different species – including the popular African Moon Moth cocoons – hanging in our emerging window. Come in, get warm and watch them emerge!

El Salvador

10 - Archeoprepona demophon (One-spotted Prepona)
10 - Catonephele numilia (Numilia)
12 - Heliconius erato (Small Postman)
20 - Heliconius hortense (Mountain Longwing)
07 - Lycorea cleobaea (Large Tiger)
80 - Morpho peleides (Blue Morpho)
10 - Morpho polyphemus (White Morpho)
25 - Myselia cyaniris (Blue Wave Butterfly)
30 - Myscelia ethusa (Royal Blue Butterfly)
15 - Papilio erostratus (Dusky Swallowtail)
15 - Papilio torquatus (Band-gapped Swallowtail)
10 - Parides montezuma (Montezuma Cattleheart)
10 - Prepona omphale=archeoprepona omphale (Blue Belly-Button)
15 - Papilio thoas (Thoas Swallowtail)
15 - Siderone nemesis (Red-striped Leafwing)
10 - Tithorea harmonia (Harmonia Tigerwing)

Total = 294

LPS-LA

13 - Argema mimosa (African Moon Moth)
10 - Ariadne Ariadne (Angled Castor)
07 - Athyma perius (Common Sergeant)
01 - Catopsilia scylla (Orange Emigrant)
14 - Cethosia cyane (Leopard Lacewing)
15 - Charaxes castor (Giant Charaxes)
10 - Charaxes cithaeron (Blue-spotted Charexes)
20 - Charaxes protoclea (Flame-bordered Charexes)
09 - Euploea core (Common Crow)
40 - Hypolimnas bolina (Great Eggfly)
13 - Papilio constantinus (Constantines's Swallowtail)
10 - Papilio dardanus (Mocker Swallowtail)
10 - Papilio nireus (Blue-banded Swallowtail)
48 - Papilio polytes (Polite Swallowtail)
10 - Parthenos sylvia lilacinus (Blue Clipper)
10 - Tirumala limniace (Blue Tiger)
10 - Tirumala septentrionus (Dark Blue Tiger)

Total = 250

Grand Total = 544

“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.

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Please Don’t Touch!

When you come to Pacific Science Center’s Tropical Butterfly House, you’ll find yourself transported to beautiful and surreal world where butterflies fly freely all around you. Our butterflies are so beautiful and so fearless around people, but as tempting as it is to want to reach out and touch them, we ask our guests: Please don’t touch, chase, or try to attract butterflies. Even our trained Life Sciences staff tries to handle them as little as possible – only when releasing them into the exhibit or removing them from immediate danger. There are many compelling reasons why this is our policy.


In a year, we release about 25,000 butterflies into the Tropical Butterfly House. At any one time, between 500 and 800 of them might be flying around you. It may feel like there are plenty to go around. In fact, we humans outnumber the butterflies in the exhibit. In the same year, we will have over 500,000 people visit the exhibit! That means for every butterfly, there are at least 20 people.

Sure - one person touching one butterfly may do very little harm. A few scales will be rubbed off the wings, or a bit of the oils from our skin might clog the pores of the butterfly’s limbs. But the accumulated damage from 20 people - even the most careful and well meaning - can be significant to these small and fragile creatures.

And you may be very careful and coordinated, but the toddler watching, and modeling on your behavior, may not be.


What does all of this touching mean for a butterfly? Butterflies cannot repair damage to their bodies. If a scale is lost, a new one does not grow in. If the rigid veins in their wings are broken, they will not mend and the butterfly’s ability to fly will be reduced or lost entirely.

Chasing butterflies can also be harmful to them, even if you never catch them. It can lead to their energy stores becoming exhausted with no way to recover those reserves.


Ok – so you are convinced that touching butterflies is harmful. But it is still so tempting! What can you do? Some tips in (no particular order) may help you enjoy your visit without succumbing to the temptation of touching:

• Use the picture guide to learn more about the butterflies - not for lifting the butterflies up! Identify a few species, find out about mimicry or learn how butterflies eat. It’s all in the guide.

• Really observe. Get beyond looking and enjoying. Ask yourself what the butterflies are doing. It doesn’t matter if your answers are the same as someone else’s. For some, getting in the habit of observing can lead to scientific discovery. For others it opens new creative channels. Find out for yourself what there is to see.

• Take pictures. It is another way to get close, and your hands will be too occupied to touch the butterflies.

• Go in with your sweetie and hold hands. This isn’t always an option, but the butterfly house is a great place to be on a cold day with someone you love. More than one marriage proposal has taken place there. Just saying…

Special thanks to hand model Gail Stern Lovelady.
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Fresh Sheet – November 6, 2010

Five hundred, nineteen more reasons to visit the Tropical Butterfly House this week!

Costa Rica

8 - Agraulis vanilla (Gulf Fritllary)
8 - Archeoprepona demophon (One-spotted Prepona)
11 - Battus polydamas (Polydamus Swallowtail)
18 - Catonephele numilia (Numilia)
10 - Consul fabius (Tiger Leafwing)
49 - Danaus plexippus (The Monarch)
41 - Dryadula phaetusa (Banded Orange Heliconian)
22 - Dryas iulia (Julia Longwing)
10 - Eueudes isabella (Isabella’s Longwing)
02 - Hamadryas amphinome (Red Calico)
30 - Hamadryas feronia (Variable Calico)
22 - Hamadryas guatemalena (Guatemalan Calico)
03 - Heliconius charitonius (Zebra Longwing)
12 - Heliconius doris (Doris Longwing)
57 - Heliconius hecale (Tiger Longwing)
12 - Heliconius melpomene (Postman)
10 - Heliconius sara (Sara Longwing)
39 - Heraclides anchisiades (Ruby-spotted Swallowtail)
18 - Hypna clytemnestra (Silver-studded Leafwing)
12 - Mechanitis polymnia (Polymnia Tigerwing)
28 - Morpho peleides (Blue Morpho)
10 - Myselia cyaniris (Blue Wave Butterfly)
30 - Papilio cresphontes (Giant Swallowtail)
17 - Papilio polyxenes (Black Swallowtail)
08 - Phoebis sennae (Cloudless Sulphur)
30 - Siproeta stelenes (Malachite)
02 - Tithorea tarricina (Cream-Spotted Clearwing)

Total = 519

“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.

Read more!

Orb Weavers

Now that Halloween is over, we can take down all the spooky decorations. However, here in the Pacific Northwest there is one seasonal artifact that you shouldn’t take down and you needn’t be scared of at all. Have you noticed the beautiful and elaborate webs of the garden orb weavers? How do they make these webs? And why are there so many of them all of the sudden?



If you’ve spent time outdoors recently, chances are you’ve seen one or more of these active spiders. Garden orb weavers are named after the intricate, circular web they build. There are almost 3,000 different species of orb weavers, found all around the world. In Western Washington, the most common orb weaver that you might see is the garden orb weaver. This species is also common throughout the United States and much of Western Europe.

Although they are relatively common, that doesn’t make them any less fantastic. A giant spider web might be a nuisance when you accidently walk into it face first. But if you can spot it before you break it, take a second to marvel at the architectural design of these tiny creatures.

Many orb weavers build a new web every single day. At nightfall they consume their web, rest for a short while, and then rebuild a new one. This is why we see so many fresh webs every morning.


Garden orb weavers are most visible in the fall, but they are actually around all year. Most of the year they are smaller and harder to see. They are at their largest in early autumn, just before laying their egg sacs which will hatch next spring. It won’t be long before these marvelous webs will disappear for the winter. So enjoy them while they’re here!

Some of the above photographs of orb weaver spiders are in the public domain.

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