Mating Blue Morpho - a photo on Flickriver

Mating Blue Morpho

            Butterflies mating is serious business. Male butterflies find females by sight, and use chemicals called pheromones at close range. When the male butterfly recognizes a female of his own species, he quickly pursues her and begins the rituals of courtship. If the female accepts the male, they couple end to end and may go on a short courtship flight. Butterflies mate facing in opposite directions with their abdomens attached. They may remain coupled for an hour or more, sometimes overnight. The male passes a sperm packet called a spermatorphore to the female. The sperm then fertilize each egg as it passes down the female's egg-laying tube.
After mating the butterfly has done what it was created for – to continue the species. Males will die 6-8 weeks after using up all their sperm mating with a succession of females. Similarly the female will die after she has laid all her eggs, usually between 150 and 500. Only a few of these eggs will mature to become butterflies – some will become food for predators or succumb to parasites etc.
The picture of the mating Cydno Longwings (Heliconius cydno) is taken in butterfly house "Vlindervallei" (Butterfly Valley), part of the "Orchideeënhoeve" (Orchid Farm) in Luttelgeest, the Netherlands.
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All rights reserved. Copyright © Martien Uiterweerd. All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.
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Taken in: Nederland / Flevoland / Luttelgeest (show map)

Taken on: April 20, 2013

Tags:

Peleides Blue Morpho

Common Morpho

Blauwe morpho

Blaue Morphofalter

Himmelsfalter

Morpho bleu

Morfo azul

Mariposa azul

Morpho peleides

Mexico

Central America

Northern South America

Butterfly

Papillon

Vlinder

Mariposa

Schmetterling

Match

Mate

Mating

Couple

Paring

Sex

Unite

Pair

Coloured

Colorfull

Colour

Tropical

Tropisch

Butterfly Garden

Butterfly house

Vlinderhuis

Overdekte vlindertuin

Vlindertuin

Vlindervallei

Orchideeënhoeve

Luttelgeest

Noordoostpolder

Flevoland

Netherlands

Nederland

Holland

Dutch

A77

Alpha

Sony Alpha 77

Sony SLT-A77V

Geotag

Geotagged with GPS

Geotagging

Macro

Macro photo

Macrofoto

Macro-opname

Minolta Macro 100 mm 2.8 mm

Martien Uiterweerd

Martien@Arnhem

Foto Martien

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Sets appears in: • Butterflies • Orchideeënhoeve (Orchid Farm)

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Camera: Sony SLT-A77V, f/4.0, 1/160 sec, 100mm (=150mm), ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony SLT-A77V
Lens:	MACRO 100mm F2.8
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.006 sec (1/160)
Focal Length:	100mm (35mm equivalent: 150mm)
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.0 Windows
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