Vanessa cardui

Butterflies are specialized on feeding nectar. Their long and narrow proboscis allows them to suck nectar from long tubular flowers, a task that may take some time. Indeed only big butterflies are able to pump up highly concentrated nectar. They commonly fly long distances among bouts visiting a short number of flowers per plant. Butterflies have narrow thermal requirements and are highly seasonal. Altogether, they appear as specialized and effective pollinators. However, in our dolomite communities they were very infrequent.