Scarlet Peacock Butterfly – Anartia Amathea

The Brown Peacock Butterfly or Scarlet Peacock Butterfly (Anartia amathea) is a species of nymphalid butterfly, found primarily in South America.
The beautiful butterfly species are found from Panama to Argentina; Grenada, Barbados, Antigua. The peacock butterfly is reported as common in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, the Brazilian highlands, the eastern Amazon, the Guianas, Venezuela, and Panama, as well as Trinidad and other Caribbean islands.

Research has shown that color reflection from butterfly wings are caused not from pigment as previously believed, but from tiny scaffolding within scales of the wings, according to Sarah Davidson of Live Science online.

The scarlet peacock is mostly active in the sunshine. It flutters around hot, dry areas,

glades, forest clearings, fields and orchards.
The scarlet butterflies fly during rain showers and hide during rainy weather in areas with low foliage.
Scarlet peacocks roost beneath leaves, in grasses, weedy areas or bushes.
At night, the butterflies hang upside down on the bottom of leaves and close their wings.

Female scarlet peacocks often take part in a mating-rejection ritual. The butterfly will hold the wings erect while flying in a direct back and forth swaying pattern to indicate a lack of interest toward the male.

These butterflies often roost in groups of a dozen or even a hundred or more at a time.