The Moroccan Eye Butterfly Art Gift and Collection

The Moroccan Eyes is a series of real, framed, butterfly art displays with 14 framed butterflies in a design inspired by the beautiful and exotic almond shaped eyes of Moroccan women. There are 14 Neotropical butterflies in these pieces from the Pieridae, Nymphalidae and Riodinidae families in the model.


This particular Moroccan Eye has some great colors in the following species:

This mounted butterfly collection is 9" x 15" with double pane glass, wood frame, glass on the front and back (see through). All frames are sealed.


Many of these butterflies are available by themselves:


Anteos menippe in Sunny Yellow


Paulogramma peristera in Lipstic Red


Blomfildia barkwing in Classic Wood


Every butterfly from Ben the Butterfly Guy comes from butterfly farms throughout the Eastern region of Peru. All butterflies here are classified non-endangered by the international CITES listings as reviewed by both the Ministry of Agriculture from Peru and U.S. Fish and Wildlife in the States. Copies of documentation and clearance are available upon request for your assurance and peace of mind.

Amazon Wave: Blue Morpho Framed Butterfly Art with Colorful Butterflies

This fantastic piece of butterfly art comes with 2 Blue morphos and 30 framed butterflies of the Amazon rainforest. Some of the amazing butterflies to note in this collection are the blue morphos, didius and godarti. This piece also has the pink glasswing butterfly Cithaerias pireta.

This makes a great gift for that special someone in your life, or a great decoration for any room.

Here is a full list of all the colorful framed butterflies in this piece:

Left side - M. didius, Agrias Claudina lugens, Napeocles jucunda, Smyrna blomfildia, Parides sesostris, Phoebis philea, Siproeta epaphus, Siproeta stelenes, Haetera piera, Marpesia marcella, Eunica alcmena flora, Heliconius erato, Myscelia capenas, Eunica eurota, Tigridia acesta, Rhetus periander

Right side - Eurytides agesilaus, Papilio thoas, Anaea, Urania leilus, Papilio torquatus, Asterope Sp., Callicore pastazza, Phoebis trite, Anaea xenocles, Cithaerias pireta, Heliconius burneyi, Callicore cyllene, Itho Sp., Callicore pastazza, Diaethria eluina, M. godarti

This is in a 19" x 30" double pane glass, white, wood frame

ALWAYS FREE SHIPPING IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S.

*All frames are hand crafted and the quality and characteristics are much better then the common, one-sided Riker Mounts. One of the great benefits of double pane glass framing is that you can see the front and back sides of the mounted butterflies. In most cases involving Neotropical butterflies the front and back sides of the wings are distinctly different. The back many times displays a species distinct form of self defense.*

Every butterfly from Ben the Butterfly Guy comes from butterfly farms throughout the Eastern region of Peru. All butterflies here are classified non-endangered by the international CITES listings as reviewed by both the Ministry of Agriculture from Peru and U.S. Fish and Wildlife in the States. Copies of documentation and clearance are available upon request for your assurance and peace of mind.

White, Black and Blue Morpho deidamia Framed Butterfly Set

Click on Image to Order

This framed butterfly is the magnificent blue Morpho deidamia, a closely related Morphidae to the M. achilles. Much like many other blue Morpho butterflies, the back side of this species has some spectacular pattern and color schemes. Go ahead and take a look at the difference of the front and back sides of their butterfly wings.

This butterfly is mounted in a 7.25" x 6.5", double pane glass, wood frame

This set includes three butterfly frames, black and blue. Please ask as to availability first, if you would like 2 or 3 off the same color frame in your set.

Click the link to see more Blue Morpho Butterfly Sets

Where do butterflies get the name from? The Pieridae Butterfly Family

These framed butterflies of the Amazon belong to the White, sulfur and yellow butterfly family of Pieridaes.

It is this sub-family that is responsible for the name "butter-flies" because of their cream color.

The Pieridae species in this frame are: Phoebis trite, Aphrissa statira, Phoebis argante, Phoebis rurina, Phoebis philea

They come in in a 4.25" x 12.25", painted yellow, double pane glass wood frame, with glass panel on front and back, and sealed with hot silicone along the inside grooves of the wood frame.

*All frames are hand crafted and the quality and characteristics are much better then the common, one-sided Riker Mounts. One of the great benefits of double pane glass framing is that you can see the front and back sides of the mounted butterflies. In most cases involving Neotropical butterflies the front and back sides of the wings are distinctly different. The back many times displays a species distinct form of self defense.*

Every butterfly from Ben the Butterfly Guy comes from butterfly farms throughout the Eastern region of Peru. All butterflies here are classified non-endangered by the international CITES listings as reviewed by both the Ministry of Agriculture from Peru and U.S. Fish and Wildlife in the States. Copies of documentation and clearance are available upon request for your assurance and peace of mind.

Butterfly Frame Giveaway Question of the Week: What is your favorite butterfly?

The Butterfly Frame Giveaway question of the week is: What is your favorite butterfly? You can answer us by leaving us a comment on our Facebook page. Post up a picture, a description, anything and next Monday we will pick a winner to send a beautiful Napeocles jucunda butterfly to. I figured the jucunda was only appropriate since it is my personal favorite butterfly. Why? Go to my Facebook page to find out. To get there you can either click on the picture or look along the right hand side of my blog for the the Ben the Butterfly Guy Facebook window.

Then on my page, click on the wall tab up towards the top to be able to tell us, what is your favorite butterfly.

Napeocles jucunda black and blue butterfly

Glasswing Butterfly Art Set with 5 Framed Butterflies in Purple

The fun butterfly frame you see here has 5 glasswing butterflies including the beautiful purple and pink glasswing butterfly.

This would make a great decoration for a nursery, or decoration for a childs room. This would also be a fantastic gift for a girl.

They come in a purple, 4.25" x 12.25" frame purple double pane glass frame, front and back

*All frames are hand crafted and the quality and characteristics are much better then the common, one-sided Riker Mounts. One of the great benefits of double pane glass framing is that you can see the front and back sides of the mounted butterflies. In most cases involving Neotropical butterflies the front and back sides of the wings are distinctly different. The back many times displays a species distinct form of self defense.*



Almost all the Glasswing butterflies you see hear belong to the Satyriinae family with the exception of the Chorinea species which belongs to the stunning Riodinidae family (also known as the metalmarks for the brilliant, metallic hues). Satyriinae are characterized by thicker veins on the wings, solidarity, and staying away from bright lights. They are also associated with host plants from the Monocotyledons family. Monococotyledons are plants such as palms, bamboos, and orchids. Cithearias in particular are preferential to palms.

The Glasswing Butterflies in this particular piece are:

Cithaerias pyropina, This is by far my favorite Clearwing butterfly because of the colors and patterns they show off. This species looks as if it was slightly diped in purple ink and then dabbed with three spots of pink. A truly wonderful addition to any collection.

Haetera piera, The Haetera piera belongs to the Satyriinae family, and like the Cithaerias, is known to be found in dark damp places. Unlike the Cithaerrias they are known be found around bamboo plants as opposed to palms. They shun bright light, coming out around dusk and hanging out in the shadows and can be found in singles and pairs, hardly ever more then that.

Cithaerias phantoma, Similar to the Cithaerias merolina except this particular species has a darker pink hue being more opaque on the lower wings.

Cithaerias merolina Female, This clearwing butterfly can be found in very wet, dark and damp places getting nutrients off of rotten fungus. The female Merolina, as you can see, has a more orange pattern, thicker body and barely if any pink.

Thyridia psidii, one of the larger ithomiinae butterflies, this one belongs to the Mechanitini tribe alongside the similar looking Methonas. This species is mysteriously amazing with it's large dark bands.

Every butterfly from Ben the Butterfly Guy comes from butterfly farms throughout the Eastern region of Peru. All butterflies here are classified non-endangered by the international CITES listings as reviewed by both the Ministry of Agriculture from Peru and U.S. Fish and Wildlife in the States. Copies of documentation and clearance are available upon request for your assurance and peace of mind.

Model number: EGLASSPURPLE09 

The Tiger Complex amongst different Butterflies of the World

The last article I posted about aposematism in certain colorful butterflies and the purpose behind their tiger like colors and patterns on neotropical butterflies. This time I'm going to go in a little further and discuss how the Tiger complex patterns works in Neotropical butterflies and why it is so important for their survival. 

The Tiger Complex is a group of tiger like patterned butterflies that are all part of a larger mimicry ring system. If you'd like to know how mimicry works, please refer to my articles:

Butterfly Mimicry among Heliconius Butterflies

There are about 200 known species that belong to this circle mostly unpalatable and the rest are clever copy cats. When birds view the coloration and patterns on the wings of these butterflies, they stay far away knowing that a bite into one of these tiger complex butterflies, they'd receive a very unpleasant surprise. Aposematically colored butterflies are unpalatable and toxic, having an extremely bitter taste.

The Tiger Complex can be found in many most Nymphalidae butterfly subfamilies such as, Papilionidaes, Ithomiinaes, Heliconius, Pieridaes and Rodinidaes. The example above is one of the largest examples of Tiger Complex butterflies, the beautiful Papilio zagreus butterfly.

Butterflies that belong to the Tiger Complex circles are known to come together in large groups, creating safe havens that a visual deterrants for other butterflies in the vicinity. Basically, strength and defense in numbers. These butterflies are known to show off their warning colors proudly, flaunting their "you can't mess with me" attitude. 

This particular butterfly is also a great part of The Tiger Complex Collection Mounted Butterfly Set and can be purchased as a set or an individual Papilio Zagreus Framed Butterfly.

In the Butterfly World, Beauty and Self-Defense are One and the Same

Hi, my name is Ben. There is no country in the world with more species of butterflies than Peru and I live here. It's been cool seeing so many unique and rich sub-cultures in one country, but what has really gotten to me is the Amazon rainforest. It's a whole other planet to say the least, with it's own heirarchy, laws, one political party under "Survival of the Fittest" catering to thousands of different yet equally important demographics and a community where every role is chained to a constantly strained link holding up it's very own future!!!

The butterflies are quite the celebrities on this planet in many different ways. One of the most important ways is their resilience against predation through aposematic patterns. Their complex glamour is a testament to the exotic nature of their world where what seems as elegance to us is merely self-defense and protection for them. Aposematic colouration is the term for colors and patterns that emit visual warning cues to predators, letting them know that they are not palatable species. In some cases the colouration is truth, in others it's a bold camouflage. The heliconius butterflies are especially known for this.

Take for instance this mounted tigerwing heliconius butterfly:

This butterfly is unpalatable and his wings are bright billboards warning birds about this fact. There's a much more common butterfly that displays a similar pattern to give the same warning, the world famous Danaus plexippus or Monarch butterfly.

Front

Back

The Monarch butterfly is unpalatable and toxic from the chemicals inherited by their hostplant, milkweed. These intricate and detailed aposematic patterns are associated with toxicity so they are not eaten by predators.

So that is it, for my first post on my new blog about Butterfly Art and Home Decor.

Click the following to order the:

Tigerwing Heliconius Butterfly in White Frame

Monarch Butterfly Art in White Frame