Two Worlds of the Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polytes)

 Two Worlds of the Swallowtail Butterfly

(Papilio polytes)

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

Caterpillars of Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polytes) 

feeding on citrus leaves

Obnoxious I look and smell no one dares to get near,
much less to pick me neither by beak nor tongue,
for my enemies are few, so my friends - if I know;
you see, if you are ugly and dirty no one bothers you,
like anyone else not excluding some humans;
but in my case Nature designed me this way,
and she thinks I'm beautiful, to me it is a gift of life;
surviving a cruel world. I rest now and someday
I'll metamorphose into something beautiful
in the eyes of humans, so beautiful and dainty
no one will ever ask what I was before. ~


Black Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio polytes)

Swallowtail butterflies represent the grace and 

free nature of the ineffable human soul, as well 

as life, hope, endurance and change.

The backyard as laboratory and workshop series:The Enigmatic Papilio Butterfly

Introducing an insect to a toddler  

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Citrus Papilio butterfly (Papilio demoleus) caterpillars appear like bird droppings, from which it got its name "bird dropping caterpillar." 

 

Mackie 2, is introduced to entomology, the science of insects, in a series of photographs. Note her expression as she gathers courage, and finally touches and caresses the caterpillar.  Photos by the author, at home in QC

 

Complete life cycle of the citrus swallowtail butterfly (Papilio demoleus). 

The insect undergoes four stages: egg, caterpillar (four instars), pupa, and adult (butterfly)

Note the transformation of the bird dropping caterpillar (first instar) into green growing up enormously (2nd and 3rd instars), until it is ready for the next stage.  Here it secures itself with a single stout thread in a 45 degrees position with head down. The pupa transforms from green to brown.  After a week or so, it emerges into a beautiful butterfly. 

The butterfly's metamorphosis is dramatically described in an illustrated book, Hope for the Flowers, by Paulas. There's a clarification though; the  pupa of a butterfly is naked, in the sense that it is not enclosed in a silk cocoon, unlike that of the moth and the skipper - also a Lepidopteran that exhibits dual characteristics of both its relatives.  Skippers are active at dusk (crepuscular); whereas butterflies are diurnal, and moths nocturnal. The classical example of a moth is the silkworm, Bombix mori, while that of a skipper is the Nymphalid, falsely identified as butterfly. 

Bird dropping first instarstage

 Top left, clockwise: closeup of bird dropping caterpillar (1st instar).  The caterpillar turns green with camouflage design, and is  most destructive, feeding on leaves of citrus (2nd and 3rd instars).  Full grown caterpillar about to pupate; early stage pupa, which gradually turns brown as it approaches metamorphosis.    

Dorsal color and pattern of the citrus Papilio demoleus showing a pair of false eyes, which scares a would-be predator.  

Close-up of the pair of false eyes highlighted by red shade around the "eyeballs."    
 
Resting position of Papilio demoleus showing the ventral side of its wings as differentiated from the dorsal color and pattern. Such difference is mistaken for two species. Disguise pattern and coloration protects the butterfly from would-be predators. The same principle of differentiation helps in the species' survival.   
                       
                  Papilio demoleus mating, showing ventral side of their wings,  
The dorsal side is partly visible. Acknowledgement: photos of the 
adult Papilio and its stages wete sourced from the Internet Wikipedia

Where have the buffaloes gone?

Dr Abe V Rotor

Ann and Marlo in front of their ancestral home 

San Vicente, Ilocos Sur (Megabooks)

They wait for the buffalo

that pulls the cart

as I search the fields,

cross the river,

gaze over the hill,

onto the prairies of old, 

repeating the call

that reverberates 

over the plains

where a great

civilization perished.

What will I tell my children

now the buffaloes are gone?

In time they will understand. 

Primitive Crustaceans

 Primitive Crustaceans

Dr Abe V Rotor

  Primitive Crustaceans, in acrylic by AVRotor

I live by the pen and paint brush,

     and imagination;

I live where no man had lived

     before Creation.

When concept was still unborn,

     and unknown. ~

 

A Twin - A Mirage

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Still life painting by AVR 2015

Beauty begets beauty, a philosophy;
     a rebirth, mirage, a twin,
make-believe art, romantic story,  
     a gorgeous, bountiful scene. ~

Home Industry Fruit Wine (Article in Progress)

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

      

A Touch of Healing (Dedicated to His Holiness Pope Francis on his coming visit to the Philippines.)

Dedicated to His Holiness Pope Francis on his coming visit to the Philippines 


Dr Abe V Rotor

A Touch of Healing is based on the theme of my book, Light from the Old Arch, which is logotherapy, a Greek word that means healing through meaning. It was Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychotherapist-philosopher who popularized this approach in keeping man’s resolve in facing the harsh realities of life, and in attaining peace of mind. It is in this state that he “discovers himself” and becomes more “sensitive for the other person.” A Touch of Healing is therefore, not only for the reader but also those whose lives he touches - in the workplace, in the community and at home.

1. Truth we seek, its bulk is under;

Iceberg its tip isn’t the danger;

Mum are we, inside is anger;

Silence sets us all asunder.

2. Feelings we may fall short;

Repressed and the water burst,

Rising into waves and froth,

Unless our anger dies first.

3. Denial to anger is just the beginning,

If anger is provoked and prolonged;

Into depression lost from bargaining -

Not enough, acceptance the saddest song.

4. The arrow and the bow,

True machine before the plow;

A hunter’s life he’d ceased

To found the land of peace.

5. To change our ways, hold your peace;

In his dungeon Gandhi prayed at ease;

Bowed on a loom he wove the cloth,

Cloth for the naked, the flag, and both.

6. Kindness without honesty -

That’s sentimentality;

Honesty without kindness -

Simply that’s plain cruelty;

Peace the duo could harness

Brings light to humanity.

7. He marched with the flag behind him

The Drummer Boy to his master’s will;

The flag drops, yet drumming still,

Fell he, knowing only the battle hymn.

8. Heavenly fire the clay took form,

Lives his soul after his ash;

Tempered he survives the storm

Lost in Eden to live with us. 

9. Late we rise at the edge of decay,
To herald birth at life’s last bend;
“Death be not proud,” the sages say,
“It’s how we’ve lived that tells our end.

10. Melodies in the air, we capture
Melodies in the heart, we keep;
Unsung melodies in rapture,
Sought and failed, we weep. 

11. Ivy, ivy on the wall,
Creeping shy and small;
Spread your arms to hide
My dark and ugly side.

12. How can the sun reach the hadal depth,
Where the world is cold, where love is dearth?
Hasn’t someone a bit of sun long kept?
Come, come and save the hearth.

13. Impossible to the old,
Im-possible to the bold;
Retire for the night,
Re-tire for the might.

14. Truth hidden when not needed
May breed lies unheeded;
And wrong a mob embraces
Is like a basket full of roses.

15. Make believe growth and prosperity;
A vessel sounds louder when empty.

16. Only good wine grows mellow with age;
So does a good man grow into a sage.

17. Up in the sky a pattern most queer,
Stars tell of the destiny of men;
Wouldn't a genius from slumber stir,
Or a faithful pray beyond Amen?

18. A vessel holds water to the brim,
Unless it bears a crack at its rim;
As men wish power in their dream
Even if they have lost their steam.

19. But children are children,
Knowing not a mob or crowd;
Curiosity, danger and dream
Lie behind a thin shroud.

20. Beauty builds upon beauty,Ad infinitum to eternity. ~

Orchid of Five Wounds

Orchids, Paintings by Anna Rotor. Does the orchid of five wounds really exist?  Or is it only in the imagination?
Is there such an orchid?

"It comes from a plant, Inday, that grows in the deep woods. It is an orchid, and it has a very unusual name, Five Wounds, Orchid of Five Wounds. Quite unusual, isn't it? But not anymore than Baby's Breath or Angel's Tears. This one got its name because on the tip of each white petal is a spot of red or purple, like a drop of blood. There is a 

legend that when Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, some drops of blood from his wounds fell on this plant. Hence the name. Someday I shall tell you more about the legend."

This is an excerpt from The Orchid of Five Wounds, a short story about a sixteen-year old girl suffering of inoperable blindness. The attending doctor was describing this very rare flower. Before the kind doctor described the flowers, the patient caressed the flowers separately, feeling the petals, bringing the bunch nearer her nose. "I have never seen it before, but I think it is beautiful. Ten flowers on one stalk, petals like pearls... the fragrance reminds me of orange blossoms, but it is not..."

This excerpt gives the reader an idea on how loving a doctor can be in treating a patient. It reveals the doctor's knowledge of psychology and botany, separate disciplines he managed to unite with healing. There is mystery about the specimen - does this orchid really exist?

No one knows exactly. But the doctor in this story is thought to be the author himself - Dr Arturo B Rotor- in whose honor a new orchid he discovered was named after him, Vanda merrilii rotorii as described by Dr Eduardo Quisumbing, the country's foremost botanist. There's one thing, writers usually lead their readers into the realm of a mysterious world where the essence of living is elevated to a higher plane that challenges the faculty and psyche.

Surely the Orchid of Five Wounds resides in that realm. ~

The Men Who Play God, by Dr Arturo B Rotor, 1866 Republic Heritage Awardee, contemporary of Jose Garcia Villa, Salvador Lopez and Manuela Arguilla. Published by Ateneo de Manila University)

Fine Art in Culinary Art - Aesthetics in Food (Article in progress)

Dr Abe V Rotor