Insect Picture of the Day

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I wish I could tell you the name of this butterfly, but the fact is he has about 20.

For starters, this is a Tiny Butterfly. No, I mean that’s his name. The Lycaeinids, which means “Little wolves”, also means, inexplicably, “tiny butterflies”. I would tell you why, but then it would be explicable, see?

This is Plebejus melissa (not to be confused with Bejeezus melissa, which startles far more easily) a tiny butterfly in Family Lycaenidae (Hairstreak butterflies). The term “hairstreak” comes from the thin lines on the wings. It belongs to Subfamily Polyommatinae (which means “blue” butterflies and not, as you might expect, a fondness for discount-priced daytime cinema). Blues is a subfamily in need of revision; according to wikipedia several genera currently in blues might not even belong there.

This doesn’t surprise me. Order Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths: literally, “scale-winged” insects) is incredibly complicated and hard to navigate. Our little Blue fellow here, for example, is probably a Blue because of those metallic blue spots on his wings.

I found a HUGE list of fascinating things about P. melissa while researching it. For example: you see how the front legs are slightly reduced in size compared to the middle and rear pairs? That means he’s a boy. Yes, really.

This picture was taken with a Canon EOS 5D camera, a 21 megapixel monster with a 50mm macro lens. My previous work here in InsectPOD was with a handheld Canon PowerShot, and to get this photo I would have to get the lens literally within a couple of centimeters of the butterfly. Have you noticed that there aren’t a lot of small butterfly pictures here on InsectPOD? That’s because they’re incredibly skittish and easily startled (B. melissa).

I took this picture from three feet away. I love that camera. Here’s the full size image of that butterfly for your desktop.