Eumaeus atala
Encyclopedia
The Atala, Eumaeus atala, is a small colorful butterfly
in the family Lycaenidae
. It is found in southeastern Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba. Its coloration and habits are unique among butterflies within its range.
In Florida, the caterpillar
feeds on a native cycad
, Zamia pumila
, called Coontie, as well as introduced ornamental cycads. (Another name for the butterfly is Coontie Hairstreak.) In Cuba, the cycad Cycas revoluta
is used as well. The hostplants contains toxic chemicals, known as cycasins, and the bright coloration of the adult is believed to be aposematic. Birds and lizards attempt to prey on the adults, but find them distasteful and learn to avoid the brightly-patterned butterflies.
Adult butterflies take flower nectar and sometimes roost in trees. Adults fly through much of the year. The natural habitat is open brushy areas and subtropical hammocks, often in pine woodlands. Many populations now exist in suburban areas with ornamental cycads. Adults keep close to a site with host plants, thus the species forms small colonies. The females, however, may disperse in search of more hosts. The butterfly's flight is slow, unlike the swift, erratic flight of many other Lycaenidae
. Like many lepidoptera
, male Atalas have hair pencils ("coremata
") on their abdomens used in courtship--the male hovers in front of the female, wafting pheromone
s exuded from the pencils in her direction. Eggs are laid in clusters of 10-50 on the leaf tips of the host plant. Larvae feed on the leaves. Pupation is usually on the host plant.
The Florida populations of this butterfly were almost wiped out by urban development, but the species has rebounded to some extent as it has begun to use ornamental cycads planted in suburban areas.
The species was originally described by the Cuban Zoologist Felipe Poey
. He named the butterfly for Atala, the Native American heroine of an 1801 French novel by Chateaubriand, Atala ou les amours de deux sauvages dans le désert
.
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
in the family Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae
The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...
. It is found in southeastern Florida, the Bahamas, and Cuba. Its coloration and habits are unique among butterflies within its range.
In Florida, the caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
feeds on a native cycad
Cycad
Cycads are seed plants typically characterized by a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves. They usually have pinnate leaves. The individual plants are either all male or all female . Cycads vary in size from having a trunk that is only a few centimeters...
, Zamia pumila
Zamia pumila
Zamia pumila, or Coontie, is a small, tough, woody cycad of the West Indies and Cuba. Zamia pumila was the first species described for the genus and hence is the type species for the genus Zamia and the family Zamiaceae....
, called Coontie, as well as introduced ornamental cycads. (Another name for the butterfly is Coontie Hairstreak.) In Cuba, the cycad Cycas revoluta
Cycas revoluta
Cycas revoluta , is a plant native to southern Japan. Though often known by the common name of king sago palm, or just sago palm, it is not a palm at all, but a cycad.-Description:...
is used as well. The hostplants contains toxic chemicals, known as cycasins, and the bright coloration of the adult is believed to be aposematic. Birds and lizards attempt to prey on the adults, but find them distasteful and learn to avoid the brightly-patterned butterflies.
Adult butterflies take flower nectar and sometimes roost in trees. Adults fly through much of the year. The natural habitat is open brushy areas and subtropical hammocks, often in pine woodlands. Many populations now exist in suburban areas with ornamental cycads. Adults keep close to a site with host plants, thus the species forms small colonies. The females, however, may disperse in search of more hosts. The butterfly's flight is slow, unlike the swift, erratic flight of many other Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae
The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...
. Like many lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
, male Atalas have hair pencils ("coremata
Coremata
Coremata is a genus of moths of the Crambidae family....
") on their abdomens used in courtship--the male hovers in front of the female, wafting pheromone
Pheromone
A pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting outside the body of the secreting individual to impact the behavior of the receiving individual...
s exuded from the pencils in her direction. Eggs are laid in clusters of 10-50 on the leaf tips of the host plant. Larvae feed on the leaves. Pupation is usually on the host plant.
The Florida populations of this butterfly were almost wiped out by urban development, but the species has rebounded to some extent as it has begun to use ornamental cycads planted in suburban areas.
The species was originally described by the Cuban Zoologist Felipe Poey
Felipe Poey
-Biography:Poey was born in Havana, the son of French and Spanish parents. He spent several years of his life in Pau then studied law in Madrid. He became a lawyer in Spain but was forced to leave due to his liberal ideas, returning to Cuba in 1823. He began to concentrate on the study of the...
. He named the butterfly for Atala, the Native American heroine of an 1801 French novel by Chateaubriand, Atala ou les amours de deux sauvages dans le désert
Atala (novella)
Atala is an early novella by François-René de Chateaubriand, first published on 12 germinal IX . The work, inspired by his travels in North America, had an immense impact on early Romanticism, and went through five editions in its first year...
.
External links
- Eumaeus atala on the UFUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
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