Butterflies wherever you look

Today, in addition to a display full of butterflies, we have six species of moth out including the Tussore Silk moth, Lorquin's Atlas, African moon moth, Madagascan bullseye moth, Indian moon moth and the beautiful Luna moth from the USA.  These moths will live about 7- 10 days.  Look out for a future post on the Spanish moon moth (Graellsia isabellae) as we have seven cocoons waiting to emerge.

Spring opening

The Spring opening has seen a host of new insects and allies at the butterfly house.  We have new beetles, stick insects, leaf insects and yellow-legged millipedes. 

One of the stars is the Rainbow Stag Beetle (Phalacrognathus muelleri) from Queensland, Australia.  The wing cases of this species have the most brilliant greens and reds coupled with an immaculately polished shine.  The male has long 'antlers' which he uses to fight off rival males.  The female is equally showy but lacks the 'antlers'.  The adult beetles live up to fifteen months and feed on fruit and tree sap. 

We also have a number of other beautiful beetles in the genus Eudicella and a huge male Stag beetle.