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Purple Butterfly Valley
Every autumn,million of purple crow butterflies overwinter in the southern Taiwan.”Purple Butterfly Valley”is not a geographical name, but a term used by butterfly researchers to present the biological phenomenon of butterflies overwintering in groups. Among them, including at lease six types of purple butterflies,four types of Tirumala limniace species, and two types of Euploea species.These are two species of winter mirgating butterflies in the world, the Mexican Monarch Butterflies and the Taiwanese Purple Crow Butterflies. Therefore, they are about ten spots forming this ecological phenomenon in Maolin, with a total around a million butterflies gathering here.

The characteristics of forming the purple butterflies valley
1. Located in the south of the Tropic of Cancer(Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, and Taidong)

2. Located less than 500 meters above sea level.

3. Located in the forest.

4. Located with dry creek nearby

5. The mouth of the valley faces south or southeast or southwest.

Introduction
Butterflies are part of the class of insects in the order to Lepidoptera. In Taiwan, we have around 370 species of butterflies, including 50 species are endemic and 5 species are protected.With nearly 400 species of butterflies on this relatively small island, Taiwan named kingdom of butterflies. According to the evolutionary process and phylogeny, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Nymphalidae, Lycaenidae, and Hesperiidae are most frequently seen butterflies in plain area in Taiwan.

Papilionidae
Papilionidae is the most bigger than other pieces. Until now, Taiwan has 31 pieces of this family. The Agehana maraho which is also from this family and became Taiwan’s national butterfly. Papilionidae have large size wings, dazzling colors, and elegant shapes. Most of their appearance in black. They have one anal vein in the hind wing, the abdomen of butterfly is mostly seen. Very few butterflies in family of Papiloionidae have rear-protruding hind wings.

Pieridae
In Taiwan, Pieridae has 38 pieces, most of them are the most frequently seen in central and southern.They are middle sized, most of them are yellow and white. Most larvae eat many dicotyledons, especially Cruciferae and Leguminose so they are considered harmful insects to vegetable.Yellow Butterfly Valley  in southern Taiwan are mostly from  Pieridae family.

Nymphalidae
Nymphalidae are usually middle-sized. Taiwan has almost 130 nymphalid pieces,distributed in various land areas of the island.Most of them have short front legs and bright colored. They are frequently found in wastelands or grasslands with sunshine. A few species of them are found in forests or bamboo groves and prefer fermenting fruit, dung, or tree sap. They are the main butterfly species in the Purple Butterfly Valley in Southern Taiwan.

Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae are usually small-sized butterflies with gray wings, also named Coppers. Taiwan have 110 pieces of Lycaenidae. They usually seen in wasteland  with sunshine. With wings streaked with bright colors, these butterflies in the intermediate and high altitude are also called the beryl in the air. They have antennae decorated with black and white stripes and false eye spots on their hind wings.

Hesperiidae
Theses are middle or small-sized butterflies, there are 60 known species in Taiwan. They can thick and short body, dark-colored, open-winged when resting. Each larva builds and inhabits its own shelter prior to population.

Overwinter in Groups
Purple butterfly originated from the tropical zone, their growth environment should be over than  15 degrees. The two largest known large-scale overwinter type butterfly valleys are the monarch butterfly valleys in Mexico and the purple butterfly valley in Taiwan.

Poisonous
Larvae of the purple crow butterflies feed on plants of the families Moraceae, Asclepiadaceae, and Apocynaceae. The sap of these plants contains toxic alkaloids, called CGs (Cardiac glycosides), which is stored inside the larvae bodies, making them dangerous to swallow for their predators.

Structural Coloration
Color on the purple butterfly’s wings come from two sources. Ordinary color from normal chemical pigment and structural color from the specific structure of the butterflies’ wings. The latter shift while  catching the sunlight at different angles, known as structural coloration.Structural colors are created by optical effect, such as interference, refraction, or diffraction rather than by a pigment. They arise from the arrangement of physical structures interacting with light to produce a particular color.

Death-feigning
Purple crow butterflies feign death when they detect a predator, they also device their predators by remaining a death- feigning posture.

Warning Coloration
Larvae of the purple crow butterflies are omnivorous insects which feed on the plants of the families Asclepiadaceae, Apocynaceae, and Moraceae.The sap of these plants contains toxic alkaloids, called CGs(Cardiac glycosides), which is stored inside the larve’ bodies, trasforming to bright colors as warring to predators of their toxicity.

Labels
The identifier consists of two English letters and date. For example, if the label is maked ML 1010, ML refer to Maolin and 1010 is refer the date of this label. Only professional volunteers are the one eho allowed to label these purple butterflies and they should with nontoxic marker to write down. The purpose of make the label for them is let people be able to look up details about where these purple butterflies come from, and record how long are their life.

Reference
Maolin National Scenic Area Administration

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