What does the Admiral butterfly look like?

Butterfly Admiral has nothing to do with the sea. Neither she nor her ancestors had ever seen the ocean's distances. Butterfly Admiral is an exclusively land creature. But her outfit - black wings with a red border - quite reminiscent of admiral bulbs. But despite such a ceremonial view, the butterfly - Quite an ordinary creature on all continents of the globe. What does the Admiral butterfly look like? This is a fairly large insect. The length of the wing reaches three and a half centimeters, in the span - up to six centimeters. The color of the wings varies from dark brown to black. In the middle of the front wings there is a red strip, above which there are white spots like sprockets. The edges of the second pair of wings are decorated with a red rim, which is adorned with black peas and a double blue spot near the trunk. What does the Admiral's butterfly look like from below? On the front wings, the upper figure is repeated. The lower pair, as a rule, is brown, covered with a pattern of dashes and dots.

This fluffy day butterfly. Populations of the admiral in the latitudes of our country are replenished by individuals who came from the south. Mostly fly from North Africa. Migratory butterflies seem to be flocks, but one by one they fly one after another in one direction. Together they meet very seldom. Butterfly Admiral - "lonely wanderer". Upon arrival, the female specimens lay one egg each on the leaves of the plants used by the future offspring for food. And what does the butterfly look like at the stage of the caterpillar? From the eggs appear caterpillars of white color with yellowish spines, spots and dots all over the body. She does not have a longitudinal strip. Caterpillars develop from May to August. They live in the leaves of the same plants that they eat: nettles, thistles and hops. What does the butterfly look like at the pupa stage? The whitish pupa, which they build for reincarnation into an adult, is attached to the stems and hangs freely. The future butterfly is in her head down.

Adult butterflies eat aromatic nectar of flowers, juice of trees, berries and fruits. Their elongated proboscis, similar to a spiral, is placed in the center of the flower in order to obtain food, which for many other insects is inaccessible. Most of the butterflies born in late summer go south in the autumn. There they deduce the next generation and die. The life of the butterfly Admiral is small - about six months. In spring, young birds fly to the birthplace of their parents to continue the look of the butterfly. But some admirals remain wintering. They fly until late autumn, sometimes until frost. And in the cold season they climb deep under the bark of trees or into deep crevices, where they will not get frost. In the early spring, when the snow still lies in large snowdrifts, Warmed by the high hot sun, these butterflies are selected from winter shelters and flutter in sheltered places.

The Admiral's butterfly population is subject to changes in numbers. In some years they appear in large numbers. But in general, the butterfly is rare and listed in the Red Book.