The “Piano Key” Butterfly
While writing Bugtown, i became a little fascinated with butterflies as most people tend to be. How is it that these little creatures can start out as a dull, simple, hairy caterpillar and emerge as something completely different and beautiful?!
I recently visited a friend who lives in southeast florida and we decided to take my kids to Butterfly World . If you have never heard of it, Butterfly World is a really neat place exhibiting over 20,000 exotic butterflies of over 50 species . It houses the largest butterfly habitat in the World!
This is where I saw the “Piano Key” butterfly for the first time. Being a musician, I was immediately intrigued by its unique wing design and coloring representing the keys of a piano. Also known as “Postman or Amazon Postman” butterflies, the Piano key butterflies are a subspecies of Heliconius melpomene . Living for 6 months as adults, they are one of the longest living butterfly species. The caterpillars only eat from passionflower vines that contain toxins that the caterpillars retain in their bodies throughout their lives to protect them from predators. Due to their foul taste, they have virtually no natural predators.
While you won’t see the beautiful wings of the “Piano Key” Butterfly in Bugtown, you will see a completely new fictional species never seen before in nature! Get your Copy of Bugtown HERE!
References:
https://www.butterflyidentification.com/postman.htm
