October 1, 2009
LONGEVITY IN SIX FLAGS DISCOVERY KINGDOM'S
BUTTERFLY HOUSE
Long-lived butterfly species is first documented to live
over one year
A handful of blue-banded purple butterflies (Myscelia cyaniris) have surpassed the ripe old age of one year in the Butterfly Habitat at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. The average age of a butterfly is generally two weeks.
“This is the first time we've documented a butterfly species living this long — as of today, 367 days,” said Rich Kelson, entomologist at Six Flags. “We've kept watch on this particular grouping which hatched here on September 29, 2008. Interestingly, we had previously studied this species for their longevity and established that individuals could live over 200 days.”
While the Butterfly Habitat houses up to 50 different species at any given time, butterfly pupae are acquired year-round from places such as Malaysia and South America, since they do not tend to live long. Kelson carefully inventories individuals after they morph into butterflies from the pupae stage as they flitter about the temperature controlled building. He took note of the one year milestone recently for the surviving group of Myscelia cyaniris from that period and thought that they might break a record of sorts.
“It's exciting to think these individuals could live that long,” said Kelson. “We can probably attribute their longevity to their sedentary behavior since they're only active part of the day, and the fact that they are exclusively fruit feeders and drink the fruit juice; fruit feeders also tend to live longer. Of course, genetics probably plays a big role to their long lives as well.”
Of the original 20 pupae that successfully hatched in September 2008, he was able to ascertain that there are at least four or more that are still living.
“Their wings are slightly irregular and they are missing some scales, but you can tell they are mostly intact,” said Kelson.
He also knows that this species has not bred over the past year. They would normally breed on very specific plants that caterpillars eat, which are not present in the Butterfly Habitat. The staff has never seen any caterpillars or eggs from this species.
There is no known documentation that this species lives this long in the wild. According to Kelson, tagging studies done on Monarch butterflies suggest long lived individuals but not a year and other butterflies, such as the Mourning Cloak, have been hypothesized to live up to a year.
Myscelia cyaniris, also known by its common names royal blue and blue-banded purple, are native throughout Central and South America. The wingspread is about 2.25 inches and they are light grey underneath and with shiny blue stripes on top. The forewings are somewhat pointy in shape.
About Six Flags:
Six Flags is a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in New York City and is the world's largest regional theme park company with 20 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada.
