Butterflies are one of the most striking and mysterious animals that exist in the world. His figure is loaded with symbols: it represents the ephemeral of beauty, metamorphosis and spirituality, among many other things.
In addition, they are one of the few insects that most people find more joy than fear or reluctance to find, unlike their cousins butts. Sometimes we think that we will have to travel to exotic places or go to the other side of the world to enjoy its great variety, its infinite range of color or the most unexpected forms that its magnificent wings take. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In the Iberian Peninsula, in fact, you can come across up to 234 different species of butterflies and many of them will leave you open-mouthed. Several of them, such as the greenish-white, the little mirrors (due to their silver color on the underside of their wings), the common sulfur, the wave maiden or the lemon tree, do not need very specific climatic conditions to survive, so they thrive. freely in a multitude of places.
Here are some examples that several Instagram users have photographed themselves in different parts of Spain:
This Icarus butterfly was photographed in the Madrid municipality of Alcobendas. The metallic blue color of its wings, which can measure between 28 and 36 mm , in the male it usually has a more purplish color on the front with very thin black lines on the edges.
The Issoria lathonia (Sofia) , can be found in North Africa, Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as in the Iberian Peninsula. This image shows the copulation between two of its specimens. Don’t they look something like flying leopards?
The apollo ( Parnassius apollo ) is usually found in mountainous areas. This particular image was taken in the mountains of the Spanish province of Palencia.
The macaon ( Papilio machaon ) is very easy to find throughout the northern hemisphere and they inhabit both low-lying areas and those that exceed sea level by 2000 meters. Their wings can reach 8 centimeters in length. And the best … It is very likely to run into it in the Iberian Peninsula!
The monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus ) is not as typical of peninsular Spain as it is of the Canary Islands, although its original origin was North America. Currently it can also be found in Australia, New Zealand, the Azores or Madeira.
The Polyommatus (Plebicula) golgus is native to the Spanish provinces of Granada and Almería. In fact, it is better known by its popular name: La Niña de Sierra Nevada.
The curious hairy and colorful appearance of the verdigris ( Tomares ballus ) wings does not go unnoticed. In Europe we will only be able to find it to the south of the Cantabrian mountain range, in areas far from the Atlantic climate of the Iberian Peninsula and on the French Mediterranean coast.
