MEL’S BLOGRICHMOND BIRDWING BUTTERFLY

My blog is about the Richmond Birdwing butterfly for my client, a Grade 7 student, looking for information on endangered Australian animals. My client chose the Richmond Birdwing as a school project as the Richmond Birdwing is vulnerable and endangered, due to fragmented populations and habitat loss.

Differences between male and female Richmond Birdwings

Male Female

The adult male Richmond bird-wing has a wingspan of about 12-13cm and is basically black, with green stripes and spots on both sides of the wings, and patches of green on the hind wings.

The adult female Richmond bird-wing is up to 14-16 cm, and black with white patches on both wings and a yellow band on the lower edge of the hind wings.

Both male and female bird-wings have a distinctive red patch on the body beneath the base of the wings and a green stripe on top of the thorax.

The female lays her eggs in clusters 1 – 3 on the lowland Richmond Birdwing vine pararistolochia praevenosa and the mountain aristolochia pararistolochia laheyana vine, these vines are native to Australia. Habitat forest population is fragmented by deforestation, weeds and the introduced Dutchman’s pipe vine. ee

EGGS + CATERPILLARS

Eggs hatch after about 10 to 13 days, any longer and they probably will not hatch. The caterpillars (or larvae) only feed naturally on two species of vines – the lowland Richmond birdwing vine (Pararistolochia praevenosa) and the mountain aristolochia (Pararistolochia laheyana). The females sometimes mistakenly lays her eggs on an introduced vine Aristolochia Elegans (Dutchman’s pipe vine), which is very similar to our native plants, if this happens the caterpillars are poisoned when feeding on this vine. The first instar larva consumes it's egg shell as it's first meal after emergence. When the Richmond Bird-wing caterpillars feed, they do not like sharing leaves on the same stem. They will attack each other and one will be eaten. A caterpillar (or larva) spends most of it's time eating so it can build a store of food for when it pupates and changes into a butterfly.

LIFE CYCLE

The female Richmond bird-wing lays her eggs, the eggs hatch into a caterpillar, the caterpillar pupates and then turns into a butterfly. In coastal populations larvae pupating in spring or early summer emerge within 40 days, but if pupation occurs in late summer or autumn, pupae remain throughout the winter in dispause. This over-wintering mechanism in pupae prevents emergence of adults when the temperature is too low for flight, for feeding and for reproduction.

FOOD

As mentioned the caterpillars only feed on the pararistolochia praevenosa vine and the aristolochia pararistolochia laheyana vine. The adult butterflies will feed on nectar from flowers of many native plants, including native frangipani (Hymenosporum flavum), pavetta (Pavetta australiensis), black bean (Castanospermum australe) and lilly pillies (Syzygium species), as well as several exotic flowers, e.g. buddleia, pentas, honeysuckle, bougainvillea, impatiens and hibiscus.  They prefer white and red blooms to other colours.

HABITAT

The Richmond birdwing in its natural state breeds in moist subtropical rainforests wherever the two food plants occur. The butterfly will adapt to planted food plants in disturbed habitats such as gardens. Habitats are nearly always on rich soils, such as those of volcanic origin (e.g. basalt-derived) or of alluvial origin (e.g. in riparian zones near watercourses). Depending on food plant availability, habitats are distinctly lowland (to 600m altitude) near the coast or occasionally and seasonally at altitudes above 600m on the NSW/Qld border ranges.

IMAGE MAP OF WINGS

View of the different parts of the male and female wings of the Richmond Bird-wing. The wing areas are divided into two areas, the fore wing and hind wing. During flight, the fore wing and hind wing are held together and function as one wing. The coupling mechanism differs in different species. In most butterflies, a lobe on the hind wing presses against the fore wing. When at rest, butterflies hold their wings vertically.

IMAGE MAP OF HEAD

The Richmond bird-wing butterfly's head consists of club of antenna, antenna, scape, compound eyes, clypeus, labial palp, labrum, labium and proboscis (feeding tube) is usually coiled except when feeding.

THORAX

The thorax is the locus for locomotion. The thorax is divided into three segments; on each segment is a pair of jointed legs. The four wings of the butterfly are also attached to the thorax. The thorax contains the muscles that make the legs and wings move.Butterflies have six segmented legs. The two front legs of about half the butterfly species are very short. The front pair of legs are frequently used to clean the antennae. Each foot ends in a pair of grasping claws. The feet are also studded with sense organs and are used to taste food.The wings are attached to the second and third thoracic segments (the meso- and meta-thorax). During flight, the wings are held together because a lobe on the hind wing presses against the fore wing.

ABDOMEN

The abdomen is relatively soft and is divided into 10 segments (7-8 are easily seen, the others are fused). The abdomen contains the butterfly's simple, flexible, tube-like heart, Malpighian tubules, reproductive organs (claspers or ovipositors), many spiracles (breathing pores), and most of the digestive system (fore gut, hind gut and rectum). 

References

http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/lamington/about.htmlhttp://www.richmondbirdwing.org.au/conservationofbirdwingsbook.php http://www.richmondbirdwing.org.au/laheyana.phphttp://vanveenorganics.com/product/richmond-birdwing-vine-aristolochia-praevenosa/http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/threatened-species/vulnerable/richmond_birdwing_butterfly.html

Conservation of Bird-wing butterflies - Don Sands, Sue Scott and D.P.A.Sands (Donald Peter Andrew)Published c2002 Marsden, Qld SciCom Ed

Arthropods - Helen StevensPublished 2000 South Yarra Vic, Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZImoqjvg1Q

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