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Thursday, October 29, 2009

butterfly - australia information

0945 PM on 29-10-2009


Australia Butterfly - information.

A butterfly farm has been in existence in Australia since 1987 [Kuranda village]. The Australian Butterfly Sanctuary is a twenty year old. It is the large captivating enclosure in the country for the butterfly. Since its opening, million of people have visited there and enjoyed the flutterby creatures. This is the biggest in the southern hemisphere.

The aviary [cage like] at the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary has been designed to recreate the butterfly's natural tropical habitat. As we go through along the path ways which go through the aviary take time to appreciate the vast variety of Lepidoptera (species of butterflies and moths).

The Australian Butterfly Sanctuary is also home to the world’s largest moth – the Hercules Moth. The Hercules Moth is endemic to Tropical North Queensland Australia and is a majestic creature of the jungle that really has to be seen to be believed! The tour guides are more informative to the visiting guests. We will be told about the unique and less known butterfly such as the Red lacewing, Glasswing or Orange Cruiser. There is a museum in the sanctuary where many species around the world are on display. Australian Birdwing, which is the largest butterfly in Australia.

Being located just 27 Km west of Cairns, the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary is readily accessible for the people. Cairns is also full of rainforests that can provide an ideal environment for the butterflies. The sanctuary was designed to become self-sustainable for the butterflies, so only plants where caterpillars can feed and lay their eggs are abundant within the sanctuary's premises. Australian Butterfly Sanctuary is situated in the centre of Kuranda Village and is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as Australia’s largest butterfly flight aviary and exhibit. Conceived, designed and built by Paul and Susan Wright in 1987, the sanctuary rears only native butterflies to Australia which are bred on the premises. Today, however, it holds the record as the biggest aviary in the southern hemisphere. Since butterflies are rainforest species, the aviary's landscape was created to imitate the rainforest environment, with special attention given for the needs of the Ulyses butterfly. It is complete with a running stream, a waterfall and a rainforest under-storey and canopy. As such, the aviary is not only a paradise for butterflies, but is also a wonderful place for people to experience. The Sanctuary is open from 9:45 to 4:00 pm daily except during Christmas Day. Please do visit there when you are on tour to Australia.

Hereunder, I post some stamps of australia alongside some post cards having butterfly stamps. The stamps however may not be full.


1981

4C = Euschemon Rafflesia = Hesperiidae - Regnet skipper
10C = Troides euphorion = Papilonidae - Cairns Birdwing
20C = Graphium Macleayanus Papilonaedae =Macleay's Swallowtail
27C = Papilio Ulysses = Papilionidae Ulysses = Ulysses
30 C = Pseudalmenus Chlorinda Lycaenidae = Chlorind Hairstreak
35 C = Tirumala Hamala = Nymphalidae = Blue Tiger
45 C = Cressida Cressida Papilionidae = Big Greasy
60 C = Dilias Agauippe = Pieridae = Wood White
80C = Ogyris Amaryllis Lycaenidae = Amaryllis Azure
$1 = Tisiphone abeona Nymphalidae = Sword Grass Brown



















1998
Nymphalidae - Cethosia Cydippe - Red lacewing 45C
Licaenidae - Arhopala Centaurus - Dull Oakblue - 45C
Nymphalidae - Junonia Villida - Meadow Argus - 45C
Papilionidae - Papilio Ulysses = Ulysses - 50C
Hesperiidae - Chaetocnemebeala - common Red Eye 45 C




















Information on butterfly :::

There are migration records for about 30 species of Australian butterflies, although only 10 do so regularly. Brown awls, a type of skipper, migrate in their thousands, spending the winter in north-east Queensland and moving south in summer. The next generation makes the return trip north in late summer. During winter, a number of Wet Tropics butterflies move to the coast, and to sheltered areas along creeks, where they congregate in clusters of hundreds or even thousands for three months or more. Blue tigers and common Australian crows (which are related to the wanderers/monarchs) are the most noticeable but they may be joined by black and white tigers and eastern brown crows. They hang from twigs waiting for temperatures to rise and new leaves to appear on larval food plants. Yellow and lemon migrants, as their name suggests, also move in large numbers.

Made up of many lenses, an adult butterfly's eyes are a vast improvement on those it possessed as a caterpillar and are particularly sensitive to movement and colour. Experiments with paper flowers have shown that certain butterfly species prefer blue to purple and yellow to red, ignoring green until they were ready to lay eggs. At least some species are able to see ultraviolet; when viewed in this light, the wings of some male white butterflies, can be seen to have iridescent patches which are invisible to us but presumably play an important part

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