Mudpuddling

[Vikram Gupchup]

Mudpuddling season is at it's peak right now.
These are Grass jewel butterflies, one of the smallest in India , sucking in salts from a stream side rock . Image taken at Tamhini near Pune.

[Mrudul Godbole]

That is a nice behavioural photograph. Thanks for sharing the information and updating.

I found some more information from Wikipedia about mud puddling :

Mud-puddling is the phenomenon mostly seen in butterflies and involves their aggregation on substrates like wet soil, dung and carrion to obtain nutrients such as salts and amino acids. This behaviour has also been seen in some other insects, notably the leafhoppers.

Males seem to benefit from the sodium uptake through mud-puddling behaviour with an increase in reproductive success. The collected sodium and amino acids are often transferred to the female with the spermatophore during mating as a nuptial gift. This nutrition also enhances the survival rate of the eggs.

When puddling many butterflies and moths pump fluid through the digestive tract and release fluid from their anus. In some, such as the male notodontid Gluphisia septentrionis, this is released in forced anal jets at 3 second intervals. Fluid of up to 600 times the body mass may pass through and males have a much longer ileum (anterior hindgut) than non-puddling females.

For further information check - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud-puddling

[Bibhav Behera]

Thanks for the image Vikram. Thanks for the info Mrudul.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Thanks a lot for this article Vikram. Thanks Mrudul for the additional info.
I have seen butterflies of the swallowtail family forming very large congregations during mudpuddling. Sometimes even a small patch of damp soil can attract tens of them.

[Mohan Raj]

Yellow Orange Tip (Ixias pyrene) Butterflies mud puddling in a stream bed a day after summer showers at Gunderipallam, 15 Kms from Sathyamangalam..

Camera: Panasonic
Model: DMC-FZ28
ISO: 100
Exposure: 1/500 sec
Aperture: 8.0

[Bibhav Behera]

More butterflies Mudpuddling...

[Bibhav Behera]

Found this in Similipal. This and the previous image.

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Lovely photographs, Mohan and Bibhav. TFS.

[Ashwin Baindur]

Found this in Similipal. This and the previous image.

Hi Bibhav,

This is the Spot Swordtail (Graphium nomius), a papilionid. The light green butterflies are the Lemon or Common Emigrants (Catopsilia pomona), a pierid.

It would be great if you give the date & time of each photo from the exif and also the georefs of the spots where you took the images.

Ashwin Baindur

ashwin (dot) baindur (at) gmail (dot) com

[Bibhav Behera]

Thanks for the Ids Ashwin.

The EXIFs are:

Spot Swordtail:
Canon EOS 1000D, Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM
SS 1/160
f/11
ISO 400
Date and Time: 11th May 2010 1:27:29 PM

Common Emigrant
Canon EOS 1000D, Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM
SS 1/400
f/11
ISO 400
Date and Time: 11th May 2010 1:26:49 PM

Both images were taken in Similipal Biosphere Reserve, Orissa. 21°45′N, 86°20′E