Diet

What does the Common Morpho eat?

These insects are attracted to a range of rotting fruits, tree sap, fungi and animal fluids. They are able to obtain these by sucking them through the proboscis on the front of the face.

Caterpillars have an entirely different diet to the adults and feed on leaves. They show a preference for those of plants in the pea family.

Learn more about the Common Morpho in this video from Springs Preserve on YouTube

Range

Where do you find the Common Morpho?

South and Central America is the native home of the common morpho. Here they occur from Mexico through to Colombia.

Habitat

Where can the Common Morpho survive?

This species is a resident of tropical forests.

Credit: Elke Wetzig, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Reproduction

How does the Common Morpho produce its young?

Most mating occurs at feeding sites where large numbers of these butterflies will gather together.

Mating is a long process taking between 8 hours and three days.

Common morpho undergo a metamorphosis. Their life cycle includes four stages.

Adults lay eggs on to the upperside of leaves. The eggs are colored green with a ring of brown spots on the top. Eggs incubate for between 8 and 16 days before hatching in to the young known as caterpillars.

The caterpillar has a long, thin body with a number of legs and will spend its time on a plant on which it can feed. They mostly feed around dawn and dusk.

They will undergo five stages as a caterpillar known as instars. In between each of these they undergo a molt during which they shed their old exoskeleton.

As a caterpillar their body is colored reddish-orange. Along the back they have bright green patches. A number of large white tufts of fur protrude from their body.

After growing to a suitable size the caterpillar will form a protective coating known as a chrysalis and in here it will undergo its development in to a butterfly before emerging.

The pupae of a common morpho is colored green and is oval-shaped.

Behavior

What does the Common Morpho do during its day?

Much of their adult life is spent near the forest floor.

Large groupings are occasionally sighted flying above the canopy. They will fly above the canopy to sun themselves.

Credit: Pavel Kirillov from St.Petersburg, Russia, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Predators and Threats

What stops the Common Morpho from surviving and thriving?

A range of birds provide the main natural threat to the common morpho. These include the jacamar or the fly catcher.

An industry has been formed around the collection of common morpho butterflies for export to zoos and other such facilities which have displays of butterflies. These programs are used to encourage local people to leave the forest intact as this is where the supply of butterflies is taken from.

Despite this the rainforests which they inhabit are still heavily logged and deforestation is an ongoing threat to the species.

— AD —

Quick facts

The common morpho is also known as the emperor or Peliedes blue morpho.

Credit: Tubifex, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons