Butterfly man

We have a new graduate, a butterfly man, Hebert Velásquez. Hebert researched the life cycle of two butterflies, Danaus plexippus (the Monarch) and Leptophobia aripa (a delicate, white thing called the White Mountain butterfly, which is also a cabbage family pest).


Photo: A Monarch butterfly ready to leave its cocoon.

Photo: The White Mountain butterfly.


The work was done in conjunction with the Cotapata National Park, the Instituto de Ecología at the state university in La Paz called the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, and the Fundación Puma. The idea was to develop an inexpensive and low-tech way to raise these two species of butterflies. The Monarch is a commercial species, sold live to butterfly houses and sold mounted as a decoration. The White Mountain is released en masse at weddings and other fiestas, a delicate cloud of white butterflies to celebrate the occasion. A community butterfly project in the national park, called Mariposario Nayriri, will use the data to commercialize these two species sustainably.

Here is Hebert is the lab, changing the caterpillars' food.



Great job, Hebert.