Posts Tagged → adventure vacations Australia
Tamborines Vulnerable Visitor
adventure vacations Australia are a dream to many overseas visitors every year. Even the simple butterflys amaze visitors. The vulnerable Richmond birdwing butterfly migrates seasonally to the Tamborine escarpment from nearby high altitude rainforests. These large and spectacularly coloured butterflies live in subtropical rainforest where their larval host plants grow, the rare Pararistolochia vines (P. praevenosa and P. laheyana). On hatching, each caterpillar will eat more than a square metre of leaves and stems from these specific vines before pupation.
The Richmond birdwing butterfly is threatened by habitat destruction, loss of its native larval food plant and an introduced weed (a species of Dutchman’s pipe) that poisons larvae. This weed emits a substance that tricks female butterflies into laying their eggs on this vine, dooming the larvae to eat the toxic leaves.
Community and school replanting programs are underway throughout south-east Queensland to re-establish the birdwing’s food plants and remove the introduced species of Dutchman’s pipe.
