Is this real?

General discussion on entomology
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daveuk
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Is this real?

Post by daveuk »

Came across this photo on line.
Appears to be a large group of B lidderdalii puddling.
I have seen the fake Morphos on a tree trunk photo & am wondering if this is from the same "school"
Have to say all the "big red eyes" in this group should be enough to effectively scare away any predators if this photo is genuine.
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livingplanet3
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Re: Is this real?

Post by livingplanet3 »

I don't see any obvious duplicates. It certainly looks real to me. Unless of course, it's an AI-generated image (which I'm inclined to doubt).

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daveuk
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Re: Is this real?

Post by daveuk »

livingplanet3 wrote: Sat Mar 18, 2023 10:55 pm I don't see any obvious duplicates. It certainly looks real to me. Unless of course, it's an AI-generated image (which I'm inclined to doubt).
I agree. It looks real. Thanks for the additional info.
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adamcotton
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Re: Is this real?

Post by adamcotton »

It could be real unlike the photo of Morphos gathered on a tree trunk, the date looks reasonably accurate. The tweet was posted on October 9th, and they said the photo was taken 'last month' which would be September when these do fly and occur in very large numbers.

However, this is B. lidderdalii, which is not 'endemic to China'. I suppose they thought it must be B. thaidina which flies in May.

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wollastoni
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Re: Is this real?

Post by wollastoni »

Some Bhutanitis gathering have already been pictured in the past in India. Not as impressive as this one though.
It is indeed very impressive and shows that Bhutanitis species are not endangered at all as long as we don't totally destroy their habitat.

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