Acadian Hairstreak Satyrium acadica

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Acadian Hairstreak Satyrium acadica Black River Falls Jackson County Wisconsin USA 17 July Adult Lycaenidae Theclinae Acadian Hairstreak butterfly perches on flower buds. Hairstreak butterflies all have small "tails" on their hind wings with an "eyespot" below. They keep these appendages in constant motion while nectaring on flowers by rubbing the two hindwings together. The "tails" appear to a predator to be the antenna and eye of an insect causing it to bite at the hind end of the butterfly. Thus the butterfly survives with only slight damage to the wing, and the predator gets only a bite of nonnutritious wing. An example of an evolved defense mechanism.

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Size: 5200px × 3472px
Location: Black River Falls, Jackson County, Wisconsin, United States
Photo credit: © Rick & Nora Bowers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: animal, animals, beauty, butterfly, close, colour, day, defense, delicate, detail, flower, hairstreak, horizontal, landing, mechanism, mimicry, nature, nectaring, outdoors, perching, pink, profile, side, survival, view, wildlife