Butterfly question: anyone have some insights?

[phillybri]

My wife and I were on a hike yesterday and we came across two large yellow butterflies on the trail.

One was clearly dead, and the other one (still alive) seemed to be standing guard over the dead one.

Then it got weird, the living butterly started excreting a clear liquid onto the wing of the dead guy.

What the hell is this about?:wtf:

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Trust me, I'm a biologist, and

I have NO idea what it was doing. :shrug: I'd try for an educated guess but it would probably be wrong. You could try going to a butterfly site (yeah, they have teeny little computers!) and asking about it. There are monarch butterfly conservation projects that have sites and also commercial butterfly farming sites. Or there used to be, I admit not visiting any of them in a long time, Google should turn up some possibilities.

And then come tell us if you find out.

[Magrittes Pipe]

2. I know next to nothing about butterflies, but I do know this:

They are stupid.

The live one may not have known the other was dead. It could have been mating with it. Lepidopteric necrophelia, if you will.

[amazona]

3. this theory may have merit

The sulphur butterfly species in my area seem to spend hours flirting and "dancing" in their mating flights. If its partner died, maybe the other butterfly did not understand and did not know what to do.

[DS1]

4. Sounds like the one that administered a good old beatdown, old woods style

was carrying out the ceremonial piss on the unconscious guy procedure.