Australia sees largest number of butterflies in 40 years

© Hongming Kan

The Blue Tiger butterfly

Australia has witnessed the largest number of butterflies in 40 years with a combination of rain and heat providing perfect breeding conditions for the insects, an expert has said.

According to Queensland Museum's director of entomology, Christine Lambkin, the combination of rain and heat has provided perfect breeding conditions for the insects which can been seen fluttering through the skies.

"We have had a long extended dry period that has been broken by good rains at the right time of the year. So we have got the warmth as well as the rain and that is what has caused the adults to break the aestivation (insect hibernation) and emerge in numbers.

"Some of them will be trying to mate and lay eggs so that the caterpillars are going to come up on that flush new growth from the rain," Lambkin said.

"We have seen large number of butterflies in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales, mainly because we've got migrations but we have also got emergence. So we have got large numbers of all sorts of insects but particularly noticeable are the butterflies," she said.

The director noted that rain along with the heat, had produced the bumper numbers with caterpillars gorging on plant growth before transforming into butterflies.

Brisbane resident Ross Kendall who breeds butterflies for weddings and funerals said it was the biggest migration of the butterfly known as the blue tiger.

"They are literally flying in their millions and this is because of our good wet season. The plants that they breed on have shot up vigorously and females have busily laid lots of eggs, and the caterpillars have survived and gone through to butterflies," he said.

A small white, gold nd black butterfly known as the 'caper gull' had also been seen in bigger numbers.

"You often see small numbers of them but this year they are around in their tens of thousands. It is good to see the ecosystem thriving courtesy the rain," Kendall said.

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