next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------030403010807080706000907
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
One final butterfly question:
Which is correct: *mourning *or *morning*?
Eleanor
Christopher Majka wrote:
> Hi Jean & Eleanor,
>
> Jean Timpa wrote:
>>
>>
>> As the day begins to cool off again, it will find another protected
>> place, perhaps even the same one, and go back to dormancy until real
>> spring comes. They must have a marvelous anti freeze system.
>
> They do indeed. During winter diapause (i.e. hibernation), butterflies
> (in fact all hibernating insects) do a number of things:
>
> 1) The blood thickens as a result of the secretion of significant
> quantities of glycerol, and since the blood circulates freely in the
> body cavity of an insect (i.e. there are no blood vessels) this
> results in all the body tissues being bathed with an "anti-freeze" (in
> some insects sorbitol or an alcohol is secreted rather than glycerol);
>
> 2) The water content in the body decreases (dropping, for instance,
> from 80% in /Limenitis/ species to 55%);
>
> 3) What free water remains is converted to a colloidal (gelatin-like)
> form.
>
> All these changes ensure that the butterflies can survive the winter
> without freezing damage to their tissues. How some insects can
> quickly "defrost" during mild conditions in the winter and
> then rapidly re-enter diapause mode when it gets cold seems
> extraordinary to me.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
>
> _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
>
> Christopher Majka - Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History
>
> 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3A6
>
> (902) 424-6435 Email <c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca
> <mailto:c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca>>
>
> _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
>
>
--------------030403010807080706000907
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type">
<title></title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
One final butterfly question:<br>
Which is correct: <b>mourning </b>or <b>morning</b>?<br>
Eleanor<br>
<br>
Christopher Majka wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid76F98A92-9BBF-4E5F-BEBB-8A843BED1C77@ns.sympatico.ca"
type="cite">Hi Jean & Eleanor,
<div><br>
<div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Jean Timpa wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<p style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span
class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br
class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</p>
<div style="margin: 0px;">As the day begins to cool off again, it
will find another protected place, perhaps even the same one, and go
back to dormancy until real spring comes. They must have a marvelous
anti freeze system. </div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
<div>They do indeed. During winter diapause (i.e. hibernation),
butterflies (in fact all hibernating insects) do a number of things:</div>
<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div>1) The blood thickens as a result of the secretion of
significant quantities of glycerol, and since the blood circulates
freely in the body cavity of an insect (i.e. there are no blood
vessels) this results in all the body tissues being bathed with an
"anti-freeze" (in some insects sorbitol or an alcohol is secreted
rather than glycerol);</div>
<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div><span class="Apple-style-span">2) The water content in the body
decreases (dropping, for instance, from 80% in <i>Limenitis</i>
species to 55%);</span></div>
<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div>3) What free water remains is converted to a colloidal
(gelatin-like) form.</div>
<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div>All these changes ensure that the butterflies can survive the
winter without freezing damage to their tissues. How some insects can
quickly "defrost" during mild conditions in the winter and
then rapidly re-enter diapause mode when it gets cold seems
extraordinary to me.</div>
<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div>Cheers,</div>
<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div>Chris</div>
<div><br class="khtml-block-placeholder">
</div>
<div>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"
face="Times" size="3">_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"
face="Times" size="3">Christopher Majka - Nova Scotia Museum of
Natural History</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"
face="Times" size="3">1747 Summer Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada<span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>B3H 3A6</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"
face="Times" size="3">(902) 424-6435 <span
class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Email <<a
href="mailto:c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca">c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca</a>></font></p>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font
style="font-family: Times; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none;