Butterflies Landing at Museum on Saturday

Hundreds of brilliantly colored butterflies have been released into the new Butterflies exhibit which opens Saturday at the Museum. Exactly 364 painted lady butterflies took flight today, feeding on the nectar from more than 300 plants in a re-created tropical garden. Hundreds more butterflies of a dozen species will be in the exhibit when it opens on Saturday.

Today, the orange-and-black painted lady butterflies landed on Museum staff and a photographer, lingering on them as the insects grew accustomed to their new home.

Visitors will always find something new at the exhibit as new species hatch, metamorphose and fly during the course of the exhibit, which runs through Feb. 6. Visitors will be able to see brilliantly colored chrysalis hatching behind the glass of the pupa room.

There will undoubtedly be much ooooh-ing and ahhhh-ing as colorful, winged wonders whirl around you. At the same time, you will learn how butterflies live, fly and migrate up to thousands of miles. You’ll discover what they eat, how important plants are to them, and what we can do to protect these winged wonders.

On Saturday, visitors will see the following species:

Pedeides blue morpho – an iridescent tropical butterfly with a wingspan of about up to nearly eight inches. They flash their brilliant blue wings to frighten predator birds. This butterfly drinks juice from fruit. They live in South American rainforests and can be found in Mexico, Central America, Paraguay and Trinidad.

Three-tailed tiger swallowtail - from South America with a wingspan of up to nearly four inches.

Green-spotted triangle butterfly - from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone of Australia with a wingspan of up to nearly four inches.

Kleiner Mormon - from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone of Australia with a wingspan of up to nearly four inches.

Scarlet Mormon - from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone of Australia with a wingspan of about five inches.

Great eggfly from Australasia/Indomalaya ecozone of Australia is black with white, orange and blue spots.

Autumnleaf – found throughout Asia, with camouflaging coloration that remarkably resembles fallen leaves.

Blue or brown clipper – a fast flying butterfly from Southeast Asia with bright blue and white markings.

Great yellow Mormon – Asian swallowtail that feeds on citrus.

Pink rose butterfly – from the Philippines.

Paper kite/rice paper or large tree nymph – they taste horrible to predators, such as birds. They derive this defense mechanism from toxins in plants that they eat.