The excellent marshmallow is a butterfly that belongs to the genus Protantigius and the Lycaenidae family. This insect has the second name Pugachuk’s pigeon and with this name was listed in the Red Book of insects.
Appearance
The eyes of the insect is convex, usually surrounded by small hairs. The antennae of marshmallows have a pinshaped shape. Insect has 3 pairs of limbs, the front are the shortest. The butterfly has a rather large wingspan 4 cm.
There are dark strokes on the wings. Brown color, on the upper side of the aircraft there are white spots that are between the veins. These spots have an elongated shape on the front wings, and their shape is more round in the rear, the number of spots in this area is larger. This insect has a long tail located next to the rear wings. The lower side of this apparatus has a silver tint, there are many disc barks and brown stripes on it. Near the outer edge you can see beige stripes.
On one of the rear wings there are two dark spots: one resembles a triangle, and the second has an oval shape. Sexual dimorphism is manifested in the fact that the limbs of the male are poorly developed, his paws do not have segments.
Caterpillar
The excellent marshmallow passes 4 stages of development: an egg and a caterpillar, a doll with an imago. The caterpillars of this species are short, they have a convex back. This type of body morphology is wet. The head of the caterpillar is not large, the length is about 2 cm. They feed in the bushes and on the trees. Prefer not to show up to the eyes.
Habitat
In Eurasia, Zephyr lives in the south of the Primorsky Territory, namely in the territory of the Khasansky and Skutovsky district, several dozen individuals were noticed in the Nadezhdinsky district. A butterfly can be found in the central regions of China, in the northeast of the country.
Lifestyle
The maximum seasonal number is observed in July and in August, at this time, butterflies live in mixed and broadleaved forests located in valleys and lowlands. Eggs usually winter, females lay them as part of small groups on branches of trees and on different parts of the aspen of David, which is a feed plant of caterpillars. The colonies of this species are local, butterflies settled in groups on trees, which are at large distances from each other.
What eats
The diet includes floral nectar, fluid released aphids and feces of birds.
Interesting Facts
- The marshmallows are excellently guarded in the Kedrovaya Padi and in the Far Eastern Marine Reserve.
- Butterflies are more active during the day.
- Usually individuals do not go down from the crowns of trees, live about 10-20 m above the ground.
- Caterpillars secrete a liquid that attracts ants and make sounds that control the behavior of these insects.
- Males of Zephyra Yaro protect their territory from OS and other representatives of the species.
- This species never migrates and rarely makes flights.
- Wings of male individuals are much brighter.
The butterflies have seasonal changes in color. So, the regional pattern is lost, and the spots are sometimes blurred. Such transformations are more often revealed among autumn generations of insects.
