Six representatives of the order Lepidoptera immediately claim the right to possess the title "The largest butterfly in the world". Each species leads in size or span, or length, or wing area or prevails in magnitude among night and day butterflies.
To determine the size of the wingspan, it turns out that there are special standards established by entomologists for specimens placed in the collection. The wings of the butterflies should be spread in a certain way, so that a right angle is formed between the body of the insect and the lower edge of the front wings. Measurements in violation of this rule led to misunderstandings regarding the wingspan, as the indicators increased by 0.5-1.8 cm.
Agrippa scoop
Thysania agrippina is a nocturnal butterfly, the largest in the world, if we consider its wingspan. According to various sources, it reaches 25-31 cm. A collection specimen from Costa Rica is known, which had a span of 28 cm. The width of the span of another Brazilian individual, caught in 1934, was 30.8 cm. But this is not known case, how correctly the measurements were taken.
The color of the wings of the insect is quite inconspicuous: symmetrical strokes with wavy lines of brown and brown alternate on a light gray, almost white background. The males of the agrippa scoop are more attractively colored than the females. However, this is only visible when the wings of the butterfly are folded. On their lower side, closer to the abdomen, the color is brown, turning into a blue-violet rainbow tone with bright white spots.
Distribution area of the world's largest butterfly - South, Central America, the insect is also found in Mexico. A characteristic area where the species predominates is the selva of South America. The insect lifestyle is poorly understood, presumably these butterflies, like caterpillars, feed on the leaves of one of the legume plants. Life expectancy and breeding characteristics are unknown.
Koscinocer (peacock-eye) Hercules
If you ask entomologists what is the largest butterfly in the world in terms of total wing size, they will deservedly be called Coscinocera hercules. She is ahead of all other lepidopterans in this indicator. Their range in females does not exceed 27 cm. However, the area can reach 263 cm 2. Males are slightly smaller, colored much darker than females, differ in long tail-like corners of the hind wings, sometimes elongated by 13 cm. Each of the four wings of individuals of both sexes has a transparent eye-spot, which is larger and more noticeable in females.
Indeed, the wings of this nocturnal species are the most massive and largest, therefore, if you do not take into account the scope, Koscinotseru Hercules can be considered the largest butterfly on the planet. Its habitat is the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea and one of the northern regions of Australia.
Queen Alexandra's winged bird
The butterfly with the largest wingspan in the world among daytime species is Ornithoptera alexandrae. A rather interesting story is connected with the discovery of this species in 1906 by zoologist Albert Mick. On the islands of the Pacific near Australia, he composed a collection of insects for the avid butterfly collector of the banker Rothschild. It was he who in 1907 gave the largest butterfly in the world a name associated with the name of Queen Alexandra - the wife of the English king Edward VII. As this species flutters in the crowns of tall trees, the first specimen obtained, which turned out to be a female, was shot from a shotgun. Small bright birds, from which stuffed animals were made later, were shot down by cartridges loaded with the smallest shot or mustard seeds so as not to damage the plumage of the bird. The same charges were used for large flying insects.
How the world's largest butterfly looks (among daytime species) depends on the gender of the individual. Males are smaller, with more elegant and brighter-colored wings, the wingspan of which does not exceed 20 cm. The females have a velvety brown color with a beige-white pattern. The wingspan sometimes reaches 27 cm, and the abdomen 8 cm long weighs about 12 grams. Ornithoptera alexandrae - endemic living only in tropical rainforests of one of the areas of the mountains of New Guinea. After a volcanic eruption in the middle of the last century destroyed a large part of the population of these Lepidoptera, they are considered a rare species.
Peacock-eye atlas
The most common of the largest butterfly species is Attacus atlas. The insect is not much inferior in scope and wing area to the koscinocere hercules. You can verify this by looking at the 1922 copy from the Australian museum: the wingspan of this individual is 24 cm wide. Higher figures are often found due to the incorrect position of the wings when measuring an insect. Therefore, the peacock-eye atlas is not considered the largest butterfly in the world.
Photos of this species in many and easily taken by tourists while traveling in the southeastern countries of Asia. And this is not surprising, because the habitat of the peacock-eye Atlas is very wide in this part of the world, and the list of forage plants of caterpillars is very diverse. Large, thick caterpillars accumulate nutrients due to which adult butterflies live, because they themselves do not have a developed oral apparatus and do not feed during their short life.
In India, the species is bred artificially. Of enormous strands (palm-sized) of cocoons on a non-industrial scale, high-strength woolly farg silk of natural beige-brown shades is produced. Cocoons are often replaced by wallets in Taiwan.
Sailboat Antimach
Papilio antimachus is not considered the largest butterfly in the world, but is the largest daytime species in Africa. This species has larger males, whose wingspan sometimes reaches 25 cm. The average size is 18-23 cm. This significant distance between the front wings is created due to their very elongated peaks. Antimach sailboats are brightly colored creatures with brownish, buffy, orange and red tonal tints of the general background and a dark, almost black pattern.
The first specimen (male), delivered to England and received a scientific description, dates from 1775, it was caught in Sierra Leone. Only a hundred years later, a second sample was obtained, which came to Europe. The first captured female Papilio antimachus in 1882, the natives brought to the members of the expedition of Lord Banker Rothschild.
The habitat of the butterfly on the African continent is quite wide, it can be found in tropical rainforests. However, the species belongs to a few. Males often accumulate in large colonies on the flowers of plants. Females prefer dense crowns of trees, practically do not descend and do not fly out into open spaces.
Madagascar comet
This nocturnal insect is considered of all the largest butterflies in the world the most beautiful and longest. Even for females of the Madagascar comet, larger and more massive than males, the wingspan does not exceed 18 cm. But their lower corners of the hind wings are excessively elongated. In males, hypertrophied narrow “tails” reach 16 cm, which in total with the remaining wing length is more than 30 cm. In females, “tails” are two times wider and shorter (8 cm).
The Madagascar comet is attractive not only due to its unusual trail. Its bright yellow color is adorned with “eyes”, one on each wing, saturated brown in color with a black dot “pupil” in the center. Wavy brown-red lines, brown-black spots at the tops of the wings and black border on the lower wings complete the coloring.
Argema mittrei is an endemic found only in the tropical rainforests of Madagascar. In a country for sale to collectors, the species is bred in captivity. In 1995, a bill was issued in Madagascar worth 500 ariari, where, among other endemic countries of the country, the Madagascar comet is also depicted.
