Morpho Butterfly

Morpho butterflies are spectacular. The upper side of their 5″- 6″ wingspan is covered with shimmering iridescent scales that flash brilliant blue, then disappear for an instant as the undersides of its wings show cryptic brown with eyespots…then the blue sparkles again further along the trail…then disappears… flashes… disappears… etc.

The Genus name morpho probably refers to the “change” in color each wingbeat creates as the butterfly moves through the forest. It’s a challenge for our eyes to follow the bouncy flight because the butterfly seems to disappear between wingbeats. 

You’d think the bright blue would make them easy to find and devour, but it’s also a challenge for their predators, insectivorous birds, frogs, and lizards, to catch them as they repeatedly disappear. More about the color here. 

Morphos are diurnal, with territorial males following the same route through the forest each day and feeding on fermenting fruits on the forest floor. It takes about 115 days from egg through adult, but the adult butterflies only get two or three weeks of that time. They spend it chasing rivals from their territory, mating, and producing eggs which hatch into tiny hairy caterpillars.

The colorful caterpillars, covered with irritating hairs (don’t touch!), molt five times, growing larger with each molt until they are about 2½” long. Then they pupate in lovely jade-green chrysalises, hatching finally into the adult butterfly stage.

There is a morpho butterfly farm at Chaa Creek Resort if you’d like to see all the various stages in person. If you don’t make it there, you can read all about it here. 

An interesting personal note. In the summer I’ve watched morphos travel the exact same route each day for 2-3 weeks, past my house in the rainforest of Belize, passing through the veranda, around the back of the house and up the hill into the forest. The route varies with the year and the butterfly, but they’re around and about daily in season.