#Family: Nymphalidae

[thedaemonarchivist]

Hey. Hey. Monarch butterfly analysis.

The MONARCH BUTTERFLY (Danaus plexippus) is a milkweed butterfly with distinctive black and orange wings. Monarch butterflies are highly extroverted and group-orientated, likely uncomfortable when alone, but not particularly fainthearted. These butterflies migrate huge distances and can survive highly destructive weather events, making them hardy, resilient, and adaptable. The monarch uses toxins as a passive defense against predators: these butterflies are heavily conflict avoidant, fairly passive, compliant and compromising, tolerant, and docile. Tactile setae on the monarch's body are used in orientation during flight and to differentiate between plants: monarch butterflies are hands-on, tactile and practical at heart. These butterflies are fickle, curious and highly impulsive, but not particularly devoted, with a tendency to wander from their breeding or food habitat. Sensitive and aware, monarch butterflies are strongly perceptive, attuned to both regular seasonal changes and subtle mating cues. These animals strive to maintain control of themselves and are straight-forward and honest, somewhat disloyal, cautious, wary, and not likely to be manipulative.

The WHITE MONARCH (Danaus plexippus plexippus) is a rare, greyish white colour morph of the monarch butterfly: these butterflies are mildly more avoidant, flighty and disloyal.

[professionalunprofessional]

A Tawny Emperor!

[mariposabonita]

Protogoniomorpha parhassus

“Mother of Pearl.” Planthopper Phenax variegata. (x).

[professionalunprofessional]

An Asian Lady Beetle and Gulf Fritillary larvae!

[lethargicmoth]

Greta morgane oto (Nymphalidae: Ithomiini) is a butterfly that is known for it's crystal clear wings.

If you see closely you'll notice that they only have 4 legs, this is a characteristic of the family Nymphalidae.

[kas-e]

A freshly emerged Gulf Fritillary.

The Gulf fritillary or passion butterfly (Dione vanillae) is a bright orange butterfly in the subfamily Heliconiinae of the family Nymphalidae. I raised this particular specimen, and photographed it in Northern Florida on its host plant.

[mariposabonita]

Chlosyne gorgone

Gorgone Checkerspot (Chlosyne gorgone) on top of a Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos) x.

[eplapourdissant]

Front cover - page 3 - next

Metamorphosis

Aziraphale finally meets Crowley!!

Crowley is a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

Fun fact: when I made some research about Red Admirals, I learnt that they eat fruits as well as nectar. Many butterflies can eat fruit if there's really nothing else but Red Admirals love it, so of course there was going to be an apple.

I also learnt like 2 days ago that butterflies of the Nymphalidae family (including Red Admirals) only have 4 legs, which is cursed information considering many describe "having six legs" as the characteristic for being an insect. So according to this those butterflies aren't insects? Anyway. I had already made the 4 first pages when I learnt that so here Crowley has six legs and in the next too but in 2 weeks he'll only have 4 legs. Pretend you don't notice.

[konjaku]

褄黒豹紋[Tsumagurohyōmon] Argyreus hyperbius

褄[Tsuma] : Skirt or hem of a kimono

黒[-guro|Kuro] : Black

豹[Hyō] : Leopard, panther

紋[Mon] : Pattern; crest

It is a member of the family Nymphalidae, the male has a leopard pattern with black spots on an orange background over the entire wing, and the female has blackish (and red and white) outer half of forewings in addition to the pattern. The name comes from that of the female.

The larvae like to feed on the leaves of 菫[Sumire](The genus Viola). Recently, the adults have been flying into my garden and laying their eggs in each of several kinds of violets that are growing here and there in spots. They are like this, so violas and pansies in flower beds often suffer feeding damage.

In the photo, it is the flower of 狐の孫[Kitsunenomago](Justicia procumbens) that the female is nectaring on.

[ddarker-dreams]

Nexus Trivia

A/N: to commemorate the final chapter of nexus' main storyline, i wanted to string together some trivia relating to the story/its creation process!

Nexus index.

When planning out this story, I wanted to draw from Greek mythology because I felt some of the motifs/themes would mesh well. Some of the references are more evident than others. These references include:

The planet Eris' name, owing to the goddess of discord/strife.

Ania, Reader's mother, is the personification of ache and anguish.

Chrysus, the spirit of gold.

Caicias, god of the northeast wind.

The quadrant Reader lives in, Thelx, is a shortened version of Thelxinoë. This name is attributed both to a siren and one of the four Titan muses. Charming minds was her area of expertise.

The name of Reader's business, the LOTUS-EATER, is a reference to (surprise) the lotus-eaters mentioned in Homer's Odyssey. An island where people pass their days leisurely in fantasy felt fitting for the Synalink business.

As for Reader/N darling, her motifs draw from the goddess of the soul, Psyche. There's also hints of Persephone in there because well. Blade and his connection to death/his obsession that disturbed Reader's mother parallels Hades and Demeter.

The inspiration for Reader's last name, Phaeales, is a shortened version of Nymphaeales, an order of flowering plants. Lotus' fall under this category. Coincidentally, the name for the largest butterfly family is Nymphalidae. Reader and Psyche are both associated with butterflies/butterfly wings. These shared prefixes went on to form the basis for the humanoid long-life species found on Eris, Nymphalians.

Since there was so much butterfly stuff fluttering about, I was like hey, why not commit to the bit. So some of the areas in Eris are named after flower parts. There's Perianth, the outer part of a flower, and the nectary, which is where, unsurprisingly, nectar is formed.

Nectar guides, the railroad system on Eris, references the special markings on flowers by the same name. Nectar guides are those lil lines that guide pollinators to their pollen and nectar.

Okay enough etymology for now. The one thing I kept from my first outline is Nexus' ending, I changed just about everything else. The ending felt like such a gut punch that I couldn't just change it into a one-shot, it wouldn't hit the same.

There was going to be more philosophy but I spared everyone that. Originally, I associated Blade with determinism, Reader with rational-egoism, Nona with nihility, and Lear with humanism. There's still some traces of this but I toned it down a bit 😭

I didn't spare everyone from Freud though, which might be worse tbh. Reader's character was roughly built around his concept of the ego, Nona, the id, and Lear, the superego.

[mariposabonita]

Junonia orithya

female junonia orithya | source

[wildlifegermany]

Melanargia galathea, the marbled white, is a medium-sized butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Despite its common name and appearance, this butterfly is one of the "browns", of the subfamily Satyrinae.

[wildflowers-of-southern-ontario]

Viceroy Limenitis archippus Nymphalidae Family

Photograph taken on September 15, 2024, at Kerncliff Park, Burlington, Ontario, Canada.

[mutant-distraction]

Common mapwing

Cyrestis thyodamas, the common map, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It was first described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1836. It is found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. [ Wikipedia ]

📷 Ramesh Kumar

[mariposabonita]

Euphaedra zaddachii

Photograph by Martin Grimm

Zaddach's Mimic Forester (Euphaedra zaddachii), family Nymphalidae, Kalinzu Central Forest Reserve, Uganda

photograph by Dio Chan Ka Wang 

[professionalunprofessional]

A beautiful Red Postman Butterfly!