十种美丽的蝴蝶和它们丑陋的幼虫编辑本段回目录
老歌里唱到：“曾经是一只丑小鸭”。对于这些美得惊人的蝴蝶和它们模样古怪的毛虫来说，这句话实在太合适不过了。看看这些美丽的蝴蝶和恐怖的毛虫的照片吧，你会再一次惊叹于自然母亲造物的神奇。
The Tiger Swallowtail
1.虎凤蝶
Found in the Eastern side of the US, this butterfly often produces two or three batches of eggs each year which puts it among the more fecund of butterflies. You can see the black “tiger” strips on the wing of the male (a shadow of these stripes can be seen on the female but they do not to attract a mate – the male does all the leg work!).
虎凤蝶在美国的东部可以发现，这种蝴蝶通常每年产卵两到三次，这使它位列最多产的蝴蝶之一。在雄蝶的翅膀上可以看到黑色的“虎纹”（雌蝶也有较浅的类似条纹，但不是用来吸引雄性的——体力活全是雄蝶的事!）
Beautiful as this species is, the big surprise is in the caterpillar stage of its life. Usually it was lie on a branch or leaf and will appear to be a piece of bird dropping, which is nice. However, if you disturb it then it rears its head and looks pretty much like a snake that is about to give you a piece. A very scary caterpillar!
这种蝴蝶是如此的美丽，但它还是毛虫时候的样子却大大出人意料。它们常常趴在树枝或者叶子上，看起来就像一条颜色鲜艳的鸟粪。但是，如果你惊扰了它，它就会向后仰起头，看起来活像一条要给你点颜色看看的蛇。真是一种可怕的毛虫！
The Common Nawab
2.窄斑凤尾蛱蝶
The Common Nawab is found all over Asia and is a superb specimen with a wingspan of about ten centimeters. It’s a fast flyer – you have to really be quick off the mark to spot one and study it. As well as the speed it lives in the canopy, making it an even more difficult species to enjoy. One of the more remarkable aspects of this butterfly is what its caterpillar looks like! More slug-looking than anything, this little guy is giving off a message to his predators that he will not make a tasty meal. I am sure I saw something like this on Doctor Who!
窄斑凤尾蛱蝶分布在整个亚洲，它的翼展足有大约十厘米，是绝佳的标本。它飞得很快——想看到并研究它，你可得非常敏捷。除了飞得快，它还住在树冠里，这使得它更难被观察到了。这种蝴蝶另一个显著的特点就是它的毛虫的长相了。那小东西长得活像一只鼻涕虫，这给了捕食者一个信号：我可不是好吃的东西。在电影《神秘博士》中有这种毛虫的出现。
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The Evening Brown
3.暮眼蝶
Although not the most colorful of our list, the Evening Brown is a lovely butterfly, with its mosaic of eyespots and cloudy wings. The eyespots are great for confusing predators. It comes from Australia and can be seen in the bush just before complete darkness. It loves the odd can of lager and a barbecue. It looks like a leaf, which is a shame, but you should see its caterpillar! Do not mistake the purple protuberance for eyes – these are horns designed to make it look scary to other creatures (notably those of its own size). What makes this caterpillar doubly disturbing is the fact it has horns at the end of its body as well. That way, it looks as if either end is the front end – and so its message to would be attackers is don’t mess with me – bottom or top! No end of rude jokes could be considered, but I will err on the side of caution and let you use your imagination.
暮眼蝶不是我们这个榜单里颜色最显眼的，但它翅膀上镶嵌的眼点和云纹让它非常可爱。这些眼点对迷惑捕食者非常有用。暮眼蝶来自澳大利亚，它总在天即将全黑下来之前出现在灌木丛中。它很喜欢奇怪的啤酒罐和烧烤。这种蝴蝶看起来像一片树叶，这不是什么值得骄傲的事情，但是看看它的毛虫吧！别以为那种紫色的突起是它的眼睛——那些角是为了让其它生物（主要是跟它同等大小的生物）觉得它恐怖。更迷惑人的是，它的尾部也长有这样的角。这样一来，看起来无论头还是尾，哪边都像是头——所以它在向可能的攻击者传达这样的信息：别来惹我。在这里开玩笑是不太礼貌，不过我还是说，我宁可小心翼翼也不去冒那个险，你想想看吧！
The Malachite Butterfly
4.透翅蛱蝶
This butterfly is named after the green mineral malachite – and you can see why. It is usually found in Central and South America but you will get sightings as far north as Texas and Florida. It is rare, however, and it holds a grisly secret! This beautiful and dazzling butterfly feeds off flower nectar. Fair enough, you might say, but it also feeds on bat dung, dead animals and rotting fruit. From waste and death comes such incredible pulchritude. One of life’s mysteries to ponder, I guess! The caterpillar looks like its dad, don’t you think?
这种蝴蝶是以绿色的孔雀石命名的——从图中你就可以看出原因。它常在美国中部和南部发现，但在北部远至德克萨斯州和佛罗里达州也有目击。它是珍稀品种，但它藏着一个可怕的秘密！它吃花蜜。这很正常啊，你可能会这样觉得。但是它还吃蝙蝠的粪便，死去的动物和腐烂的水果。从垃圾和死亡之中竟诞生出这样的美丽，我觉得，这肯定是生命深邃的奥秘之一！下图是它的毛虫，看起来老的像它爹，你不觉得吗？
Great Purple Hairstreak
5.细尾青小灰蝶
A beautiful butterfly from the south of the US, the Great Purple Hairstreak is at the moment undergoing intensive personality disorder therapy because it doesn’t actually have any purple on it. The scales on its upper wings are blue, so giving it its alternative name, the Great Blue Hairstreak (GBH to his friends, which stands for Grievous Bodily Harm in the UK!).
这种美丽的蝴蝶来自美国南部，它正在接受人格障碍的强化治疗，因为它身上根本就没有紫色（其英文名中有purple）。它上翅上的鳞屑是蓝色的，所以它又有另一个名字：细尾蓝小灰蝶（英文缩写为ＧＢＨ），（ＧＨＢ是它的朋友，这个缩写在英国是严重的身体伤害的意思！）
The caterpillar (larvae more rightly) is pretty much the overweight kid of the caterpillar world. Bulbous and seemingly hunch backed, he can’t make many friends in the school yard, can he? Reminds me of Whoopi Goldberg in “The Color Purple” where she utters the words “Boy, you sure is ugly!”
它的毛虫（更确切的说是幼虫）显然是是毛虫世界里的超重儿童，看它那圆滚滚而且弯腰驼背的样子，它在学校里肯定交不到朋友的，对吧？它让我想起了电影《紫色》中伍皮·戈德堡脱口而出：“哦，孩子，你确实是很丑的！”
The Eastern Black Swallowtail
6.东部黑凤蝶
A butterfly found throughout most of North America, this beauty is also the state butterfly of Oklahoma. If you have dill or parsley in your garden you may well attract its attention for its caterpillars feed on these plants. The Swallowtail is not huge – about eight to eleven centimeters but the red spot at its base just makes this butterfly perfect to me. Another of its unique features is that when it is in danger, its osmetrium (a forked gland which looks like a snake’s tongue!) releases a smell that warns off predators!
这种蝴蝶在整个北美洲都能找到，而且它还是俄克拉荷马州的“州蝶”。如果你的花园里种了小茴香或者欧芹，你可能就会招来这种蝴蝶，因为它的幼虫以这些食物为食。这种凤蝶不大——大约8-11厘米长，但是它底色上红色的点让我很喜欢。这种蝴蝶的另一个独特的特征是当它的毛虫遇到危险时，它的前方会出现一个像蛇的舌头一样分叉的腺体，释放出一种气味来警告并吓走捕食者。
The caterpillar makes me think of what may have happened if a tiger and a worm had gone through that machine in the movie “The Fly”!
这种毛虫的样子让我想起了电影《变形人魔》，如果把老虎和虫子放进那个机器出来估计就是这效果吧！
It can also produce two small “horns” to intimidate and scare away would be predators. Looks like the light just went on!
它还能在头部出现两个小小的“角”来恐吓并吓走可能的捕食者。看起来就像亮起了警灯一样！
The Morpho Nestira
7.国王闪蝶
These butterflies are simply dazzling. They are from the category Morpho, they are found in South America and their calling card is their absolutely dazzling iridescent wings which from the right angle has the sheen of aluminum. These babies are big – their wing span can be up to twenty centimeters (or around eight inches for the purists out there!). Ranging from Mexico to Venezuela this gorgeous insect is protected under international law and should never be sold in glass jars! Its underside, strangely, is brown with “eyes” – a typical camouflage technique.
这种蝴蝶简直就是耀眼夺目。它属于闪蝶科，分布在南美洲，它的名片就是那绝对耀眼闪亮并且在合适的角度看去带有铝的光泽的翅膀。这些家伙很大——它们的翼展能达到20厘米（大约8英寸）。从墨西哥到委内瑞拉，这种华丽的昆虫都受到国家法律的保护，不允许抓来放在玻璃瓶中贩卖。有趣的是，它的翅膀腹面是棕色的，带有眼状斑点——这是一种典型的伪装术。
Its caterpillar is, well let’s not put too fine a point on it – gross.
而它的毛虫，嗯，我们坦白的说，实在很恶心人。
Magellan’s Iridescent Birdwing
8.珠光凤蝶
An incredibly rare species, the Magellan’s Iridescent Birdwing (or Troides Magellanus) is only found in Taiwan. It is thought there are only around two thousand of them left in the wild, with possibly another five hundred in collections around the globe. The yellow you can see in the picture is modified at certain angles to a blue-green color. This can only be seen at a very narrow angle to the insect itself. This is known as a grazing iridescence and is brought about because of light diffraction. The Morpho above, however, gets its iridescence through the ridge lamellae (a very thin structure, similar to scales) on its wings.
珠光凤蝶又叫荧光裳凤蝶，是一种非常罕见的物种，只在台湾能够找到。据说在全世界野生的只剩下了大约两千只，另外还有可能500只左右被收藏着。这幅图片中的黄色在一定角度下看会变成一种蓝绿色，只在跟这只蝴蝶成很小的角度时才能看到。这叫做临界入射幻彩，是由于光的衍射形成的。上文所说的闪蝶的彩色则是由翅膀上的脊状壳层产生的（一种非常细微的，类似于鳞屑的结构）。
The butterfly is really among the swan-ugly duckling school of butterflies. Its caterpillar isn’t much to look at really, is it? Bless!
这种蝴蝶可真是蝴蝶家族中丑小鸭变天鹅的一员了。它的毛虫可真没什么可看的，不是吗？天哪！
Orange-barred Sulphur
9.南美大黄蝶
This species only colonized the Florida (from the South) in the nineteen twenties, which corresponds approximately when the state became a haven for the older of own species. Surely no coincidence? A species that makes you draw breath when you encounter it, the male has the full on orange spots on his wings which go so well with the remainder of his yellowy wings. This is a butterfly that is designated “secure globally” so you – and your grand children – are quite likely to see it in the right place!
这个物种在19世纪20年代才从南边扩展到佛罗里达州，基本上正是那里变成自有生物的天堂的时间。你能说这没有巧合吗？这是一种一旦遇见就会让你惊讶地倒吸口气的生物，雄蝶翅膀上布满了鲜艳的橘黄色斑点，和翅膀其余部分的黄色衬在一起是那么美丽。这种蝴蝶被列为全球保护，所以你——和将来你的孙子——才能一直看到它。
The caterpillar might well give you nightmares though!
但是，它的毛虫却可能引起你噩梦！
The Monarch
10.君主蝶
The Monarch is one of those better known butterflies because of the mammoth journeys it can undertake. It’s a wonder that Disney or Pixar haven’t tuned in on this yet, it would probably make a fantastic animated adventure! They make a huge migration from the north to the south of the US, mostly starting in August and the other way around in the spring. The lifespan of the Monarch is only two months (once full grown). However, to get around that the last generation of the summer enters a diapause. That is a shutting down of their reproductive phase. As such they can live much longer – up to seven or eight months – and get those eggs laid at the beginning of the next spring.
君主蝶是最著名的蝴蝶之一，因为它们能进行一项庞大的旅程。很奇怪迪斯尼或者皮克斯怎么还没注意到这个事情，这很可能能做成一个绝佳的动画冒险呢！大部分是从八月开始，它们开始进行巨大的迁徙，从美国的北部到南部，而到了春天又沿相反方向回来。这种蝴蝶的寿命只有两个月（从完全长成后算起）。但是，为了能完成它的旅程，夏天最后一代的蝴蝶会进入滞育期。它们的生殖阶段完全停止下来。这样它们就能活的长很久——大约七到八个月——到第二年春天产卵。
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Monarch caterpillar has now been spotted in places such as Bermuda. This is because their staple food, milkweed, is being used more and more as a garden ornament. How they actually figure out where it is, I don’t have a clue! “Oh, guess what, boys!” one says at the Monarch Club, “Mrs Jones of Acacia Drive, Bermuda, has planted milkweed. Fancy a bit?”
君主蝶的毛虫现在开始出现在百慕大地区一类的地方。这是因为它们的主要食物乳草被越来越多的用于园林装饰。但是它们怎么知道哪里种了乳草呢？这我可不知道！也许在君主蝶聚会的时候其中一只会说：“嘿，伙计们，百慕大阿卡西亚大街的琼斯夫人家刚种了乳草，有兴趣去来一口吗？”undefined
