Thisbe Irenea - Laura's project
Introduction
The insect I chose is called Thisbe Irenea. It is a butterfly, but not an ordinary butterfly. The resources on Thisbe Irenea are scarce and difficult to find, and many aspects of its life are still unknown to us...
Where it is found?
The Thisbe Irenea is only found in Brazil, its habitat is in forests and gardens.
What it eats and how it feeds?
It eats leaves, rotten fruits and and vegetables. The caterpillar chews its food from side-to-side. It's upper lip is called the labrum.
How it moves?
The Thisbe Irenea crawls. They move two opposite legs at the time like most of the caterpillars you see everyday.
How it survives?
The Thisbe Irenea do not protect itself, instead the caterpillar forces ants to protect it. First it calls the ants by a special "device" located on its head, which produces ultrasound calls. Then the caterpillar gives the ants a sophisticated drug from its tentacle nectary organs. A drug drastically changes the ants' behavior. They act like guards. Drugged ants become very aggressive and would kill anything that could harm or threaten the caterpillar.
This process goes until larvae turn into a butterfly.
How it hears, sees and feels?
The Thisbe Irenea have a very poor eyesight. Like other caterpillars, they have short antennas to locate food and to help them find where they are. The caterpillar depends on touch, rather than eyesight.
Life cycle
Thisbe hatches from a tiny egg, which then becomes its first meal. Larva grows rapidly eating plant material. After the first stage in a larva body, it becomes a pupa (chrysalis), by anchoring herself to stems or branches and moulting for the last time. The Thisbe Irenea chrysalis is incapable of movement.
After two to three weeks larva turns into a butterfly. One day it leaves a chrysalis, but can't fly straight away. The newborn butterfly must wait about an hour, until wings dry and become stronger.
When Thisbe reach their adult butterfly stage, they will find a mate and will lay their eggs. Then the cycle of life is complete.
End note
My dad told me about this wonderfull butterfly and my brother checked my spelling.
I wanted to interest other kids of this amazing insect.
Bibliography
- "The Selfish Gene", prof. Richard Dawkins
- "The Larval ant-organ of Thisbe Irenea", prof. Philip J. Devries
Sunday, 15th June 2007. Melbourne, Australia