#800th post

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Question Mark - Polygonia interrogationis

To all fellow lovers of the insect world and those who are kind to bugs, with this post the blog now has 800 posts to its name! What a milestone to celebrate! I'm delighted to share all these brilliant animals with you and learn more about them with each new post. New species continue to join the blog, the last few months of posts have garnered well-deserved attention, older posts are experiencing a resurgence, and these insects are now shared on YouTube too! Here's to much more blog growth and expansion and to continue sharing insect photography with all of you, my dear readers! As always, to you and to and all those who’ve helped me on this insect journey, I extend my sincerest, heartfelt thanks for everything! As things grow, expand, refine and change, and questions abound over what may come next, I thought that this stunning summer Brush-Foot would be most appropriate to share today as #800. As a reminder, this specie's name is not a mystery, but rather based on the marking found on the underside of the hindwing (best seen on Picture 5).

The Question Mark's question mark marking is a stand out against the rest of the mottled underside that conceals this Butterfly as if it were a dried leaf. While normally cryptic colored, the sunlight shining down on this individual has caused the dorsal and ventral scales to blend together, obscuring the mottling against the display colors of the top (the effect is stronger on the forewings). This (along with mimicking the appearance of a leaf) is why Butterflies hold their wings together in order to remain inconspicuous. While this Butterfly isn't trying to remain hidden, I've last long last delivered on my promise in the previous post to feature this elusive insect. I have delivered a long awaited view of the dorsal side of this Butterfly's wings and am happy to share those beautiful, brassy-orange colors that highlight the summer. With a view like this, it should become apparent how similar the Question Mark can appear when compared to some of its punctuation-themed relatives such as the Eastern Comma (P. comma; yes, really), which necessitates a glance at the underwings to find that all-important marking.

The dorsal side of the wings can reveal other important information about your Butterfly find. For this individual, you may have noticed that while the forewings are vibrantly colored, the hindwings are darkened. This tell us that we are witnessing the summer brood form of this insect. This would certainly fit the emergence timeline which gives summer Question Marks a range of May to September to be seen in the air. From there, they lay eggs on elm trees and nettles which hatch and develop throughout the summer into the winter brood (overwinter brood may be a better name). Unlike the summer brood, winter brood Question Marks have vibrant orange and brown that extends into their hindwings as well. They also seem to have longer hindwing tails compared to the summer form, but I'll need to see a few more individuals in the wild before I can declare that with any certainty. These adults will fly from late August until temperatures fall, upon which they will seek out sights to overwinter as adults and begin the cycle anew with summer individuals like the one found in the yard for today's post. I hope fortune smiles upon you to find one of those (or perhaps their Caterpillars), but approach slowly, for they are quite skittish and swift!

Pictures were taken on June 23 and 25, 2024 with a Google Pixel 4. Happy 800th post! Thank you everyone for reading, watching and guiding my photography journey! I couldn't do this without you. And thank you to all the insects as well!

[tiffanydaleo]

Caged

Check out my latest painting, "Caged"

9/12” Mixed media on paper I’ve been so busy and distracted lately I didn’t even realize that, ironically, my last post featuring my painting “Changes” was my 800th post on my WordPress site!!! (Totally nothing to do with this painting I unconsciously titled “Caged” ����) Instagram Facebook Pinterest Tumblr YouTube Link

[neuroviolentgraves]

Doing this to my cut rn

[beyonddarkness]

Blood Oath

Asking the question: "Could Morgoth afford/risk turning Sauron against him by imprisoning him?"

(an extension of Sauron Unchained)

Thanks to @liveinfarbe for asking THE QUESTION that started this train of thought last February, and to @lassieposting for adding EVEN MORE yesterday (as I happened to be finishing up this post).

[andr0nap-wf]

oughg

[cipher-zoo]

Shanks gives Buggy a treasure map and then high-tails it to where the treasure is hidden so that he can lay seductively on top of the treasure chest when Buggy arrives.

[poppyfamily]

wild if real

[johnslittlespoon]

okay... what if these fuckers still are dancing around their feelings and aren't gonna kiss in ch5... BUT what if i am 13k words in and probably going to finish ch5 today?? and if i solemnly swear that the kiss will finally happen next chapter... (i'm 100% certain of it this time LOL it's just gonna be too long to fit in this one without it being 20k atp)

[arson-beloved]

Oh my god i am actually stupid

So looking at this

I now understand that the dark lines around his eyes are probably supposed to represent something like this (i know hes a yugioh character but follow me for a second)

My buffoonish ass thought that his eyes actually were supposed to represent something like this

And every artist just decided against that and gave him epic eyeliner instead

[irkendogma]

she drew her antennae on the little note....

[bellpeppersand-beef]

he’s here

[eomcheong-keun-megi]

SHE IS EVERYTHING TO ME

[quarrybee]

a height requirement sign from the (defunct) Freddy Fazbear’s MegaSplashPlex‘s Waterpark resort

[mellosakicc]

a cigarette but instead of tobacco youre smoking the white stuff out of an oreo

[gay-poet-gabriel]

la cucuracha

Karappan Poochi?

[casually-salad]

omg no way i just hit 200 followers???????????