Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The first recorded sighting of Morpho sanguinalis in the Pacific Northwest occurred in 2020. Dr Fitzmorris identified it as he gazed through a pair of binoculars into his Seattle backyard. The world-renowned entomologist knew the South American butterfly well.
An unmistakable species, the Morpho was enormous, with brilliant azure wings that spanned 20 inches. Beauty was its only redeeming quality. Dr Fitzmorris had lost half his men to the insect during his last expedition to the Venezuelan jungle. The trip was a nightmare he would never forget. Morpho sanguinalis had a taste for human blood. With its mosquito-like proboscis, a group of Morphos could drain the blood from an adult human in less than an hour.
Read the story here.
Great story! Scary, and very well done. I would never have imagined lovely butterflies as blood-sucking horrors.
ReplyDeleteOh lordy, this WOULD take place in the Pacific Northwest! Now I'll be looking over my shoulder for the blood-sucking butterfly.
ReplyDelete(hee hee, good story! The author and I live in the same town, brrrr)
Haemactis sanguinalis.
ReplyDeleteYikes!
ReplyDelete