Reply
Wed 16 Sep, 2015 12:50 pm
This involves 2 different species of insect, a swallowtail butterfly and a dragonfly. Happened a day or 2 apart, but in the same area. They were both on bare concrete on the edge of a swimming pool. Took place in the same square foot or so.
The dragonfly (don't know if male or female) kept repeatedly bending its long abdomen over, touching the tip of it to various areas of the concrete.
About 2 days later, a swallowtail was positively obsessed with the same area, fluttering it's wings and occassionally forcing drops of some type of liquid from it's abdomen. It would let it drop to the concrete.
It looked like mating behavior, but they were both totally alone, no others of their kind around.
It doesn't make sense a dragonfly would lay eggs on a bare concrete surface, and anyway, I know they join together in mating and fly around. Ditto for the butterfly. It didn't look so much like it was laying eggs, but urinating. However, it did it so many times over a long period, that couldn't be it.
@chai2,
Many types of insects need to get certain minerals into their systems. Salt is a good example. They do this by landing on areas with concentrations of whatever mineral they are after and ingesting it (chewing or licking or whatever method each insect uses).
It the Amazon and in Africa it's common to see large swarms of butterflies land on a particular area of mud bank or river bed and consume whatever mineral is concentrated there that interests them.
Even though the concrete of your swimming pool looked average to you, it probably had dried chemicals of some form on that spot and the butterfly and dragonfly were both interested in it.
@rosborne979,
But they weren't ingesting anything.
The dragonfly was bending its abdomen (in other words the point of its rear end down onto the surface.
The butterfly was not licking or touching it's tongue/proboscis on the area. It was fluttering its wings and forcing droplets out of the end of its abdomen, or what could be called its butt. Much more than if it was just urinating or defecating.
@chai2,
Well, that was my best theory. I'm out of ideas after that. Sorry.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace