This week's butterfly, Graphium deucalion, is found in the South Asian islands--on Sulawesi, Irian Jaya, and some of the Molucca group. It is sometimes called the Yellow Zebra, though it does not look as much like the Zebra Swallowtail as many other Graphiums do. It is not thought to be endangered.
Photo by Chan Wah Choy, taken on Sulawesi island.
Photo by Zicky. Some Swallowtail butterflies have short probosces and pollinate small flowers; some have long probosces and pollinate larger flowers.
Deucalion was the name of at least four characters in Greek literature. Best known was the husband of Pyrrha. This Deucalion, along with his wife, survived a great flood. They were advised to repopulate the land by throwing their mother's bones behind them. Defiling a parent's grave was a great sin in the ancient Greek religion and, in any case, they had no way to tell which bones were whose. Considering their problem, they thought of the right solution: a piece of wordplay. The Greek gods liked people who thought of clever ways to get around a demand. Earth was the "mother" of all people, and "Her bones" were stones. Deucalion and Pyrrha picked up stones and tossed them backward, and the stones turned into people.
In ancient Greek "Deucalion" doesn't seem to have looked or sounded like a word, or words. It sounds a bit like words for "God's beautiful one," theos kalos, or words for "sweet-wine sea-man," gleukos halieus. (Pyrrha is more easily explained; it meant "redhead.") It's also found as an American dog name, an elaboration of "Duke." The Greek name for their ancestor may not come from the Greek language at all, since at least one Greek author said he was a Scythian, but "God's beautiful one" and "sweet sailor" seem appropriate for butterflies.
The butterfly species is sometimes divided into two or three subspecies, Graphium deucalion deucalion, G.d. marabuntana, G.d. buntongensis, and some list Graphium deucalion leucadion as a subspecies. A subspecies felixi is added by some sources and classified as a distinct species by others. A subspecies leucalion is listed in some sources, probably a mistake.
However, Google's decision to show fewer than ten percent of search results and to prioritize commercial sites above academic sites, and the butterfly's being found in only a few places but not endangered, makes a Google search for this species disappointing. Most sites linked are trafficking in carcasses; one that made the first page of the search is an Instagram post that authoritatively misidentifies something quite different, with long tails, as deucalion. Wikipedia and Inaturalist are as scientific as the search results get, except for one pathetic thread listing research papers that solemnly speculate about how this species might have evolved.
They are not easily mistaken for any other species by anyone who's paid the least bit of attention to the descriptions and photos that are available. The wingspan is between three and four inches. The color scheme is black, or more precisely sable brown, and yellow. Females are often dull medium brown and yellow to white. Two rows of short stripes are bordered by a row of spots. Deucalion do not have long tails on their hind wings. Males and females probably exist in a reasonable proportion to each other, but males make themselves much easier for humans to see.
Photo by Zicky. Males share puddles with anybody peacefully enough, though they seem to prefer to spread themselves out, one to a puddle. Females probably get their water in deep woods. The other butterfly close to G. deucalion's size is a different Graphium. Most of the other bits of color are smaler butterflies.
Photo by Manggetotok. Are the smaller butterflies intelligent enough to think, "If we stick close to that big fellow, a particularly stupid bird might think we're his young"? Probably not, since butterflies do not rear or protect their own young.
If anything has ever been learned about the life cycle of these butterflies, it is not discoverable through Google, Bing, or Yahoo yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment