Butterfly lemon grass - the first spring insect

As soon as the spring warms the sun, you can see butterflies fluttering over the grass. These are the most beautiful insects on Earth, there is a huge variety of their species. They are daily and nightly, large and small, they differ in life expectancy and type of nutrition. The first appears in spring butterfly lemon grass. She is one of the few who can endure the winter.

There are butterflies plain and pale, but there are beauties who do not tear off the eye. They receive their color, thanks to the location and different shades of the smallest scales that cover their wings. Because of this, they become slippery, which helps the butterflies to escape from enemies. And the last of these beauties is many, not only birds like to feast on them.

Therefore some butterflies have a protective coloration, for example, merging with the bark of a tree. Others are protected, on the contrary, by a bright coloration, colored spots that look like the eyes. Such beauties are also exposed to the danger of being caught by a person.

Butterflies of Russia are very beautiful and diverse: a peacock eye, a machaon, a purple, a mother of pearl, an overflower, an admiral - these names are given to them in connection with the peculiarities of color and structure of the wings. Some got their name from what their caterpillars eat: urticaria, cabbage, raspberry and tail plum.

In general, butterflies, like all insects, benefit from the fact that plants pollinate, Are food for birds and even help fight weeds.

But many lay their eggs on cultivated plants, and hatched caterpillars cause great damage to agriculture. These include the butterfly cabbage. By itself, it does not do any harm, as it feeds on nectar, but its larvae live on cabbage and are able to turn heads into a lacy skeleton.

One of the most common - butterfly lemon grass. She belongs to the family of whitecaps. True, males have a yellow-green coloration, and females are white with a greenish tint. They have a special form of wings, always one orange spot on each. Due to its special structure, the insect practically merges with the plants.

Eggs butterfly lemon grass is laid one by one on the leaves of the hopper or buckthorn. Their larvae can only eat these plants. Therefore, this butterfly is also called a wreck. She herself eats nectar and carries pollen, pollinating plants. Of course, she also needs water. Butterflies drink dew or suck moisture from the ground. For this, they have long proboscis.

Their caterpillars are plain, green, they hide well from enemies. After hatching from the chrysalis, the lemongrass feeds on all the remaining summer nectar and reserves its strength for wintering. In order to winter, she seeks an evergreen shrub, usually an old ivy. For the whole summer only one generation of these insects hatch.

For a long time people were attracted by the beauty of butterflies. The ancient Greeks called them living flowers. People have always collected collections, pinning these beauties with pins to album sheets. But recently live butterflies are popular. There are exhibitions where people admire not only their beauty, but also their flight.