The Stunningly Orange Anaea Andria

This vivid orange butterfly is Anaea andria (formerly Paphia troglodyta). The image is mostly a real butterfly, preserved by a unique type of print: the lepidochrome. They are made by pressing a prepared specimen of a butterfly or moth onto printing paper treated with a thin coat of gum arabic adhesive. The body of the butterfly is a hand-colored engraving.

This lepidochrome appears in Sherman Foote Denton’s 1900 book Moths and Butterflies of the United States, one volume of which is currently on display in the Library at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Because one specimen makes just one lepidochrome, Denton had to prepare over 50,000 moths and butterflies to complete just 500 copies of his three-volume book. Come take a look at the evidence of Denton’s remarkable fixation in person at the Library, where it complements The Collectors: A Life in Lepidoptera in Maximus Gallery and Butterflies Alive! in the Sprague Butterfly Pavilion.

One volume is currently on display in the Library, a gift from Camzu Clarke in memory of her father.