BUTTERFLIES ROMANIA 2011

This week I saw Vivian´s blog and I thought it is a good idea to join the Sunday Stamps issue. So I have chosen to talk about butterflies. They are not really part of my favorite stamp themes, and at first I bought them for a friend, but I find them lovely. So here they are, flying around in my album:

The butterflies, which are members of the Order Lepidoptera, are the lively colored insects with membranous wings covered with microscopic scales. From a larva or a caterpillar stage they turn into nymphs or pupas and then into a beautiful colorful butterfly. Their life span differs from one species to another; they may live a month or a couple of months, a few hours or even a year. Depending their feeding time, they are both diurnal and nocturnal and they differ by their way of living and also by their appearance.
There are so many things there to write about, I try to focus on description and interesting facts (in italic).

The postage stamps issue which Romfilatelia introduced into circulation this year (2011), illustrates the following species: the Old World Swallowtail, the Scarce Swallowtail, the Mountain Apollo, the Peacock Butterfly, the Atlas Moth, the Morpho Butterfly and the Glasswing Butterfly. 

 
The Mountain Apollo (Parnassius apollo) is illustrated on the postage stamp with face value of lei 0.50. It is a very beautiful species of butterfly that were once widespread all over the European and Asian meadows. Unfortunately, nowadays they’re almost extinct and very rarely seen. They inhabit territories in meadows and mountains up to 2200 metres above sea level, ranging from Europe to Central Russia. The various species of butterflies differ in their colouration and the size of the dots on their wings. Apollo’s five to eight centimeter long wings are creamy, with black and red or yellow spots. These colourful spots are intended to confuse predators, mostly birds, because the red or yellow dots hold a similarity to a mammal’s eyes, thus saving the butterfly from certain death. The small head holds a pair of eyes, as well as two long tentacles that act as smell and taste sensors. The butterfly’s chest and stomach are covered with small, white hairs. Pictures here.



The Glasswing Butterfly (Greta oto) is illustrated on the postage stamp with the face value of lei 0.60. It was named this way by the first entomologists who described it in honor of the great Swedish-born American actress, Greta Garbo.  
The butterfly has transparent wings, the fine veins on its wings making it look like colored glass. It can be found in the area between Mexico and the other Central America states.  Glasswing butterflies lay their eggs on a toxic group of plants in the Cestrum genus, or nightshade family, which provide the eggs and larvae with alkaloids that ward away predators, due to the bad taste.

The Morpho Butterfly (Morpho nestira) is illustrated on the postage stamp with face value of lei 2.40. It is a large butterfly, its wingspan being of about 180 mm. The adults feed during the day on the juice of plants and fruits, while the larvae feed on plants and only during night time. It can be found mainly in Central and Southern America.  the entire blue morpho life cycle lasts only 115 days.

The Old World Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) is illustrated on the postage stamp with face value of lei 3.00. Its wingspan is of 70-90 mm. It can be found over a large area from Western Europe to Japan.  

The Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas) is illustrated on the postage stamp with face value of lei 4.50. It is considered to be the largest butterfly of the Saturnidae Family, having a wingspan of 270-280 mm. It can be found in Southern Asia and Isles of Indonesia.  Atlas moths are predominantly tawny to maroon in colour with roughly triangular, diaphanous "eyes" on both forewing and hindwing, bordered in black. The purpose of these dramatic, gossamer portals is not clear, but they are thought to play a role in predator avoidance. Their bodies are hairy and disproportionately small compared to their wings. Neither sex possess fully formed mouthparts and therefore do not feed; throughout their 1–2-week adult life they survive entirely on larval fat reserves that they build up while they are caterpillars

The Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io) is illustrated on the postage stamp with face value of lei 5.00 and is part of the Nymphalidae Family. It is a large, diurnal butterfly which has a “peacock eye” pattern on both wings. The specialists consider it to be the most beautiful butterfly in Romania. I have seen myself many of these in childhood. The butterfly has cryptic undersides with flashy eye-spots above and can also make an audible sound by rubbing its wings together, presumably as anti-predator measures

Title: BUTTERFLIESThe Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalirius) is illustrated on the postage stamp of the perforated souvenir sheet with the face value of lei 8.10. Its wingspan is of 70-90 mm. The larvae of this butterfly live on fruit trees. More pictures here. 

I don´t have the FDC, but they look interesting too:








Following the link below you will find more posts about Summer on stamps, and maybe more butterflies :)

Date of Issue: 12 April 2011

Country: Romania

Denominations: 0,5L, 0,6L, 2,4L, 3L, 4,5L, 5L and SS 8,1L

Source: www.romfilatelia.ro