Saturday, July 31, 2010

The world's largest butterfly: Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) - WWF maximum cards from Papua-New Guinea


The above image shows the male of Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae).






The above image shows the female of Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae).



They are as big as some birds, and they fly like some birds - but they are butterflies!
"Birdwings are papilionid butterflies native to the Indian Subcontinent, mainland and archipelagic Southeast Asia and Australasia, and are usually regarded as belonging to three genera:OrnithopteraTrogonoptera and Troides. Some authorities include additional genera. The exact number of species is debated, but most recent authorities recognize between 30 and 40. Birdwings are named for their exceptional size, angular wings, and birdlike flight."

The females of Queen Alexandra's Birdwing are bigger than the males.
Here's an image of a female:



Hovercraft:
"Courtship is brief but spectacular; males hover above a potential mate, dousing her with a pheromone to induce mating. Receptive females will allow the male to land and pair, while unreceptive females will fly off or otherwise discourage mating. Males are strongly territorial and will see off potential rivals, sometimes chasing small birds as well as other birdwing species."

No more shotgun approach:
"The species is also highly prized by collectors, with illegally traded specimens selling for thousands of dollars. Although collectors are often implicated with the decline of this species, habitat destruction is the main threat. Early collectors, frustrated by the height at which adults fly during the day, often used small shotguns to down specimens. but because collectors demand high quality specimens for their collections, most specimens are reared from larvae or pupae."

No comments:

Followers

Labels

aircraft (2) Albania (3) Angola (2) Antarctica (5) architecture (31) Arctic (4) Argentina (1) art (6) Australia (12) Austria (5) Azerbaijan (1) bat (2) bear (10) beaver (1) Belarus (3) Belgium (2) Benin (1) best friends (48) BFF (51) Bhutan (2) BIOT (1) bird (45) bison (7) Botswana (1) Brazil (1) British Virgin Islands (1) Brunei Darussalam (1) buffalo (3) Bulgaria (6) Burkina Faso (1) Burundi (1) butterfly (2) cactus (3) Cameroon (1) Canada (4) cat (15) chamois (1) cheetah (3) Chile (1) China (23) clouded leopard (2) cock (1) Cocos (Keeling) Islands (1) cool (263) cosmos (5) cover (17) cow (3) coyote (1) Croatia (3) Cuba (2) customized postage (98) cute (79) Czech Republic (3) Czechoslovakia (1) Dahomey (1) deer (8) deltiology (108) Denmark (2) Disney (5) dog (17) dolphin (2) dorincard (327) Dracula (8) dragon (2) educational (299) EFO = errors freaks and oddities (5) Egypt (4) elephant (6) Equatorial Guinea (1) Estonia (4) Ethiopia (1) Falkland Islands (1) famous (74) fauna (127) feline (39) Fiji (1) Finland (8) fish (3) flu (2) fox (3) France (7) frog (13) funny (40) gazelle (3) Germany (7) Ghana (1) giraffe (2) Greece (1) Guinea (1) Guinea-Bissau (2) Guyana (1) H1N1 (2) Haiti (3) hare (4) hippopotamus (2) holidays (7) Honduras (1) Hongkong (6) horse (9) Hungary (2) Iceland (1) India (5) Indonesia (3) insect (2) Iran (1) Ireland (3) Israel (6) Italy (2) Japan (7) Kampuchea (2) Kenya (3) Korea (1) Kyrgyzstan (1) Laos (1) lemur (1) leopard (4) Letonia (1) Liberia (3) Libya (2) Liechtenstein (4) lion (3) Lithuania (2) love (17) Luxemburg (1) lynx (3) Macau (2) Macedonia (2) Madagascar (1) Mailer's Postmark Permit (22) Malawi (1) Malaysia (5) Maldives (1) Malta (1) mammal (86) map (12) marcophily (183) Marshall Islands (1) maxi card (333) maxicard (335) maximaphily (334) maximum card (334) MC (135) Michael Jackson (10) Moldova (3) Mongolia (1) monkey (12) Montserrat (1) Mozambic (1) Muhammad Ali (3) Namibia (6) Netherlands (3) Nevis (1) New Zealand (2) Nicaragua (1) Norfolk Island (1) Norway (1) Obama (2) Olympics (2) opossum (1) orca (2) ox (5) P-stamp (33) Pakistan (1) panda (23) Papua-New Guinea (1) Paraguay (1) personalised stamps (95) personalized stamp (1) personalized stamps (105) philately (250) Philippines (2) pig (4) plants (13) Poland (5) polar bear (7) Portugal (2) postcards (242) postmarks (234) Princeton (1) rabbit (4) ram (4) rat (1) reptile (19) rhinoceros (5) Romania (63) rooster (1) Russia (10) Rwanda (1) Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (8) Sao Tome and Principe (1) Senegal (1) Serbia (2) Slovakia (2) Slovenia (1) snake (3) snow leopard (1) soccer (5) Somalia (1) South Africa (23) Spain (9) sports (8) squirrel (3) stamp collecting (328) stamps (325) Swahili (2) Swaziland (2) Sweden (1) swine (4) Taiwan ROC (7) Thailand (1) tiger (30) trains (6) Tristan da Cunha (1) Turkey (3) Uganda (3) UK (4) Ukraine (4) UNESCO WHS (3) United Arab Emirates (4) United Kingdom (4) USA (256) USSR (1) Venezuela (1) Vietnam (3) whale (5) wild (100) wildebeest (2) wildlife (170) wolf (10) WWF (73) year (54) Yemen (2) Zambia (1) zebra (2)

Top 30 Stamp Collecting Blogs, by guidetoartschools.com

#2:
"Dorincard: Blogger Dorin C is a stamp and postcard fanatic, and luckily he's more than pleased to write prolifically and charmingly about his obsession. He has a particular bent for stamps with wild mammals on them, but his blog demonstrates an affinity for stamps of all forms and backgrounds, as long as they offer a special narrative that's worth sharing with his readers.


  • Source: http://www.guidetoartschools.com/library/best-stamp-collecting-blogs#ixzz1KirbuA4p
    "

    Some feedback received about me and my blog here

    [DORIN'S NOTE: There are over 100 million websites.]

    From alexa.com traffic rank site

    "There are 1,699,250 sites with a better three-month global Alexa traffic rank than Dorincard.blogspot.com.
    About 43% of visitors to the site come from France, where it has attained a traffic rank of 152,077.
    About 80% of visits to the site consist of only one pageview (i.e., are bounces).
    Dorincard.blogspot.com's visitors view an average of 1.5 unique pages per day.
    Visitors to the site spend roughly two minutes on each pageview and a total of three minutes on the site during each visit."



    inkling (Enthusiast)

    The best use of this site is Other.

    Likes
    • Good content

    Comments:
    Postcards and stamps, mainly featuring mammals and birds but Dorincard also has other creations
    and interests he likes to share.
    His enthusiasm for Maximum cards (a postcard and a similar themed stamps sent through the
    postal system) shines through.
    He shows how he gets the right card, stamp and postmark together.
    Visiting his site you will also learn things about the natural world told with a dry sense of humour,
    possibly with a play on words, and a unique style of headings.
    Topical and informative both for the enthusiast and casual visitor.
    • Was this useful?
    • Yes
    • No
    • Flag
    • 1 out of 1 person found this review useful.



    1 Review
    Global 1,699,251
    Alexa Traffic Rank
    France Flag 152,077
    Traffic Rank in FR

    28 Sites Linking In "


    Wedding gifts from Zazzle

    Wedding>