Unique: The Mourning Cloak Butterfly

Lifecycle

Did You Know?

Mourning Cloak ( Nymphalis antiopa), refers to its resemblance to a traditional cloak worn when one was "in mourning".

They sometimes live as long as twelve months as adults. In springtime, they typically emerge from hibernation before the first flowers are blooming, and they feed on everything from sap flows to dung to mud, to obtain the nutrients necessary for such a long life.

This butterfly has a wingspan of up to four inches that, when opened, are a velvety dark red/brown with yellow edges. Bright blue spots line

Helen Schuler Nature Centre

Winter Hours:

Open Daily 1:00pm – 4:00pm (Closed Mondays) the black margin between the red/brown and yellow. On an older Mourning Cloak, the bright yellow wing edges faded to pale white, and the maroon of the wings becomes a more generic shade of brown.

When the weather turns cold, the Mourning Cloak replaces some of its body’s water with antifreeze-like chemicals called glycols and tucks itself under the bark of trees or in tree cavities. They fold their wings to hibernate, and the undersides camouflage with the wintry environment.

Uniquely, they hibernate twice a year. The summer hibernation is known as aestivation.

For more information: www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ species/Nymphalis-antiopa https://esc-sec.ca/2018/05/ 29/cool-insectsthe-mourningcloak-butterfly/ www.naturenorth.com/spring/ bug/mcloak/Mourning_ Cloak.html www.insectsofalberta.com/ mourningcloak.htm www.insectidentification.org/ insect-description.php? identification=Mourning-CloakButterfly https://ecofriendlywest.ca/ butterflies-of-western-canadapart-one/

Information about upcoming Presentations: www.naturelethbridge.ca

Did You Know?