Very beautiful, and interesting too: obviously, this butterfly belongs to the group of four-legged butterflies, the only insects, as far as I know, that don’t have 6 legs. The first pair of legs is atrophied or remodeled into brush-like organs (though I don’t know what their function is).
There is uncertainty about the reason for short front legs in Nymphalidae. I looked things up online some time ago and discovered that some butterflies in this family have a kind of hook on their shortened front legs that helps them clean themselves. The hook is also used to perforate leaves so that they can test the chemicals in the sap from the plant to see if it is the correct foodplant on which to lay eggs, so that the hatched-out larvae have the right food supply. But now I am unable to find the source reference for that piece of information in order to verify it.
Brilliant macros, Jessica. As far as I can remember, I’ve seen only one or two painted ladies this year. Let’s hope 2024 will be a butterfly year again. 😊
Thank you, Markus. It was the same here, we didn’t see many Painted Lady butterflies in Charlton Down this year either. Nearly all the butterflies seemed to arrive late and leave early except for Red Admirals which were still abundant and feeding on ivy flowers into early October.
Jessica's Nature Blog 
Very beautiful, and interesting too: obviously, this butterfly belongs to the group of four-legged butterflies, the only insects, as far as I know, that don’t have 6 legs. The first pair of legs is atrophied or remodeled into brush-like organs (though I don’t know what their function is).
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We missed the Painted Ladies this year completely in my area of North Germany. Nice to meet them here by your beautiful Photos.
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There is uncertainty about the reason for short front legs in Nymphalidae. I looked things up online some time ago and discovered that some butterflies in this family have a kind of hook on their shortened front legs that helps them clean themselves. The hook is also used to perforate leaves so that they can test the chemicals in the sap from the plant to see if it is the correct foodplant on which to lay eggs, so that the hatched-out larvae have the right food supply. But now I am unable to find the source reference for that piece of information in order to verify it.
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Thank you, Puzzleblume. I didn’t see many Painted Ladies here this year. There were far more last year.
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Brilliant macros, Jessica. As far as I can remember, I’ve seen only one or two painted ladies this year. Let’s hope 2024 will be a butterfly year again. 😊
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Thank you, Markus. It was the same here, we didn’t see many Painted Lady butterflies in Charlton Down this year either. Nearly all the butterflies seemed to arrive late and leave early except for Red Admirals which were still abundant and feeding on ivy flowers into early October.
LikeLiked by 1 person