![]() From India, he started sharing his observations with fellow butterfly enthusiasts in Sri Lanka. Pavendan’s interest in the crimson rose migration goes back to 2018, when observers reported seeing thousands of the butterflies winging it across the ocean toward Mannar. A mating pair of crimson rose butterflies. But that doesn’t explain the migration observed in October in Sri Lanka, which calls for more studies, Pavendan told Mongabay. Southern India experienced rain after a dry period in early February, which may have triggered the recent crimson rose boom, said Appavu Pavendhan, founder of The Nature and Butterfly Society ( TNBS) based in Tamil Nadu. As the population builds up to a critical mass, the butterflies begin to disperse en masse some species, like the crimson rose, show a stronger tendency to migrate than others. The arrival of the first rains after a long dry spell often signals a boom in the butterfly population in a given area, as conditions are just right for breeding, said Michael Van der Poorten, an expert on Sri Lankan butterflies. The life cycle of a crimson rose butterfly. But for butterflies like the crimson rose, migration is less a trip from A to B to A again, and more a meandering flight to the next best breeding spot. Insects, too, are known to migrate along fixed routes to a given destination, with the monarch butterfly probably the best-known example. The high-contrast red markings on the black wings are meant to advertise this toxicity - nature’s take on a bright red “Danger” sign.Īnimal migrations are typically a round trip think birds flying to warmer climates for the winter and then back again, or wildebeest trekking between the Serengeti and the Masai Mara in search of fresh grazing. The butterfly larvae sequester this toxin, making the adult butterfly inedible to would-be predators. “I’ve been observing and counting the butterflies since 2019, and this is the highest I’ve spotted,” Walpita told Mongabay.Ĭrimson roses belong to the swallowtail (Papilionidae) family of butterflies, They’re large, visually striking butterflies that lay their eggs on the Indian birthwort plant ( Aristolochia indica) or similar plants that contain a toxic substance. 25, he observed around 250 butterflies per minute, marking the peak of this swarm. ![]() It was a different story in October last year, when Walpita observed large swarms of crimson roses coming from over the sea, passing his station as they headed toward the Sri Lankan mainland. Not all the butterflies make it across unharmed. Sri Lanka’s northern Mannar Island records large numbers of crimson rose butterflies every October as they make the ocean crossing from India. But Walpita hadn’t observed any increase in the local population of crimson roses. If the crimson roses crossed to Sri Lanka, they would show up in Mannar. He’d recently heard about the aggregation of butterflies across the strait in India and was on alert. “They were so focused on their journey that they were flying right into our faces to reach the flowers on the beach, as if to fortify themselves with nectar before takeoff.”Īcross the sea and over the horizon, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) away, lies Sri Lanka’s Mannar Island, where butterfly enthusiast Lahiru Walpita is stationed. ![]() “One by one, the butterflies were using the coastline like a predetermined path and continued their journey toward the sea,” Paulmathi Vinod told Mongabay. 14 on the southern Indian beach of Dhanuskodi. Some of the crimson rose butterflies observed on Feb. Then they rose up, in their thousands, and began flying toward the sea. These were crimson rose butterflies ( Pachliopta hector), here to feed on the flowering plants in the coastal region. ![]() And, in a serendipitous fit with the Valentine’s theme, these butterflies had bright red bodies and striking red markings on their black wings. It hadn’t occurred to them that it was Valentine’s Day, but the couple was in for a gift from nature: the spectacular sight of thousands of butterflies in flight. Researchers have called for more studies to be done to better understand the phenomenon, including through contributions from citizen scientists in both Sri Lanka and India.ĬOLOMBO - Travel bloggers and butterfly enthusiasts Paulmathi Vinod and Vinod Sadasivan were at Dhanushkodi Beach in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state for some bird-watching on Feb.Unlike the better-known migration of the monarch butterfly in North America, the movements of the crimson rose are meandering and dispersed, often triggered by the start of rains following a long dry spell.A recently observed migration of a large swarm of crimson rose butterflies from India to Sri Lanka has highlighted how little we still know about this natural phenomenon. ![]()
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