Backyard and Beyond

Red-spotted Purple. Limenitis arthemis “in part” because the White Admiral of further north is considered the same species. They intergrade in-between ranges, and perhaps the ones seen locally are a little mixed?

The formal binomial for the RSP is Limenitis arthemis astyanax (Fabricius)*.This beauty is rarely seen here. Its larval stage caterpillar is a bird-poop mimic in its late instars! That’s right, to try and avoid being eaten by birds, it looks like “droppings.” An ugly duckling/swan situation, eh?

That’s a Common Buckeye in the distance of the first image. This week has been intensely butterfly-y in Green-wood. I’ve seen around fifteen species, the indeterminate number because of the confusing skippers. I’ll post pictures of most them tomorrow and Tuesday.

*Johan Christian Fabricius, a student of Linnaeus, also came up with the term Odonata, and people are still trying to figure out why.
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Beef prodcution profit is driving Bolsonaro’s assault on the Amazon and the world. To market, to market: The local bourgeoisie (Park Slope) are surrounded by burger places. Meanwhile, “if American’s cats and dogs were their own country, they’d rank 5th in global meat consumption…”