En attendant la prochaine sortie des papillons génération 2013, il est encore temps de feuilleter les vieux albums ornés de gravures. La modernité, en papillons est derrière nous : c’est en 1800 qu’apparaissent les premières gravures, le plus souvent magnifiques. J’en ai retrouvé quelques nouvelles, publiées par nos amis anglais, qui n’hésitent pas à citer nos auteurs français, reconnaissant leurs mérites. Je vous livre le tout dans la langue qui est devenue, nous dit-on, la première pour exprimer la réglementation européenne : l’anglais. Je me demande bien comment font nos représentants français pour s’y retrouver : apparemment ils ne s’y retrouvent pas, oubliant souvent qu’ils cosignent les décisions, comme celles venant de frapper Chypre. Mais ceci est une autre chose, en tous cas il faut parler anglais ! Là où c’est amusant, c’est que la langue de base pour les sciences (et le droit) reste le latin : il faudrait donc à l’image du Pape parler et anglais ; et latin ! Voici un petit exercice :
Vous savez ma fascination pour Adam, le premier homme. Pour une fois, on le voit seul, en train d’apprendre l’entomologie. Son professeur est un ange. On imagine qu’Eve apprend la cuisine quelque part ailleurs, se préparant ainsi à l’expulsion du Paradis et à la dure vie sur une Terre en crise ?
The Naming of Beasts: Adam, in the Garden of Eden
An angel holds a scroll with the title of the book and points toward Heaven, as Adam points toward a Hercules beetle (Dynastes hercules).
An Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) rests on the side of the rock Adam sits upon, and a Pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor) and white dragonfly (subfamily Anisoptera) are depicted aside the scene.
Entomologie, ou, Histoire Naturelle des Insects: Coleoptera. Antoine Guilame Olivier, 1808. [Fourth edition, original publication date 1798.]
Je vous ai déjà parlé du Machaon noir, utilisé par Robert Blanchard pour le croiser avec notre Machaon jaune. En voici deux belles planches :
Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) on hostplant (Anethum sp. or Daucus sp.)
Though the exact colors and markings vary between subspecies (and even within subspecies), you can see the sexual dimorphism (phenotypic differences) between the male and the female black swallowtail here. [The female is the lower right, the male is top left]
In many butterfly species, the female is polymorphic, and can have multiple phenotypes, some even being identical to the male phenotype. What is shown here is considered the “type” (standard) for the black swallowtail species, but nearly half of the females are phenotypically different from this form. However, even when the female looks exactly the same as the male to the human eye, they maintain a distinct pattern of UV markings, that are easily visible to other butterflies.
The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia
1, 4 - Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor)
2, 3, 5 - Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes)
As can be seen here, the black swallowtail is very similar to the toxic and bad-tasting pipevine swallowtail. It is also nearly identical to the Ozark swallowtail, and was once considered synonymous with it. However, molecular genetics have proven that the Ozark swallowtail is actually descended from a completely different line of Old World butterflies.
The similarities between the black swallowtail and the pipevine swallowtail are known as Mullerian mimicry. This form of mimicry is when two species share the same warning signals to predators and both share genuine anti-predation attributes. Both butterflies are unpalatable to predators, and if a predator eats one member of either species, it learns to avoid both of them (as they look very similar). This can also be considered a form of mutualism, as both mimic and original model benefit from this “interaction”.
Illustrations of Exotic Entomology. J. O. Westwood, from illustrations by the late Dru Drury, 1837.
Brehms Tierleben, Allgemeine Kunde des Tierreichs. Dr. Otto zur Straffen, 1915
Voici une planche de chenilles :
Caterpillars of : Chelonia caja; Catocala fraxini; Spintherops spectrum; Urapteryx sambucaria; Harpia erminea; Cucullia scrophulariae; Acronycta aceris; Lithosia complana; Smerinthus populi; Stauropus fagi; Deilephila elpenor; Lasiocarpa potatoria; Cerastis vaccinii; Chariclea delphini; Liparis dispar; Callimorpha dominula
From: ‘Papillons (1884) Histoire naturelle de la France. 12e’ Partie. by Jean Étienne Bercé
Enfin dans les années 1850, on se rendait en Malaisie pour y chercher les variations d’Ornithoptères obéisant par leurs variantes aux lois de Darwin : cela nous rappelle de belles histoires d’explorations, avec :
Ornithoptera urvilliana (now Ornithoptera primus urvillianus) - D’Urville’s Birdwing
Like all birdwing butterflies, the D’Urville’s Birdwing is considered endangered, and threatened by their beauty. Serious collectors have caused the extinction of one species of birdwing already, and one other is critically endangered.
While once considered a distinct species, D’Urville’s Birdwing can interbreed with other members of Ornithoptera primus, and produce fully fertile and viable hybrids, and as such is now generally considered a subspecies, instead of a distinct species.
Dictionnaire universel d’histoire naturelle. M. Charles D’Orbigny, 1848.
Ornithoptera victoriae - Queen Victoria
This butterfly is a close relative to the largest butterfly in the world, Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing. The birdwing genres are noted for their bird-like flight, angular wings, bright colors, and exceptional size.
Like many Lepidoptera (the order containing moths and butterflies), their caterpillars are toxic, owing to the plants they consume, and are not commonly eaten in their natural habitat. The butterflies retain this toxicity through adulthood.
Proceedings of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London
Vous en êtes sorti intact ?
on critique le Pape, voyez que ce n’est pas si aisé
d’être polyglotte !
PS : on retrouvera les publications précédentes dans la série :
Il y a 6 messages !
Le machaon noir : http://mesamispapillons.blogspot.fr/2011/03/les-metis-de-blanchard.html
