Butterfly Bloom

I was at Olbrich Botanical Gardens to see the hatching butterflies. Births and hatchings really are one of the favorite pleasures for reproductive biologists. I think I was a bit early this year though and so only saw two species. I got to see the Julia (Dryas iulia) and one of the swallowtails but I couldn’t get close enough to identify it. The Julia is pictured above (click on photo for a closer look). Maybe I’ll go back in a few days to see more. I really wanted to see the Malachite (Siproeta stelenes).

- Just a peasant

Note: the species name can be either julia or iulia.