The Mourning Cloak

The Wikipedia Entry for the mourning cloak butterfly (also known as the Camberwell Beauty, the White Petticoat and the Grand Surprise) reads in places like a David Lynch script.

• L. Hugh Newman likened the butterfly's pattern to a girl who, disliking having to be in mourning, defiantly let a few inches of a bright dress show below her mourning dress.
• The larvae and pupae ... respond to disturbances by twitching simultaneously.
• Newly hatched mourning cloak caterpillars can display selfish behavior, such as siblicide, by eating non-hatched eggs.
• Defense mechanisms include loud clicks when the mourning cloak flies away from a predator.
• Mourning cloaks also play dead by closing their wings tightly together and tucking their legs up against their body for protection and holding completely still.
• Mourning cloaks ... join together with other butterflies in a perch and fly menacingly towards their attackers—most often birds or other butterflies.

A widespread species, they tend to be seen in cooler more mountainous climes across Eurasia and North America, but they can be found as far south and outside their range as northern South America and Japan.  Newman, referenced above, observed that sightings of the butterfly in the UK were "concentrated around London, Hull and Harwich" all of which, being ports receiving regular shipments of timber from Scandinavia, led him to theorize that they had "hibernated in stacks of timber which was then shipped to England, and had not traveled naturally."  Newman "raised thousands for release at his 'farm' in Bexley, but none were seen the following spring. Specimens stored in his refrigerator for the winter, however, survived."

They are among the most long-lived species of butterfly.  Adults begin to emerge from their cocoons in late spring, upon which they aestivate -- the summer counterpart to hibernation-- remaining in a low energy and activity state known as torpor to weather the hottest months.  In fall, some migrate, but most remain in place.  Some pollinate, but most feed on tree sap and fallen fruit, or the "honeydew" exuded from aphids.  To weather the winter months, individuals will find a notch in a tree or rocky cliff face or nestle on the ground under bark.  Their ability to survive winter in adult form makes them among the first butterflies to appear in spring.  

Mating season begins in early April.  A non-dimorphous species, males compete for widely dispersed females over a broad range by displays of maleness characterized by domination of a desirable territory, a location "that females would want to visit," such as "sunny perches near ravines, wood margins, parks, gardens, lakes, ponds, around stream edges, or canyons in which males can perch and defend for multiple days." In this way, they attract females to themselves.  Females deposit eggs in 3 or more broods in colorful "ring clusters" on the twigs of plants, typically willows or poplars, likely to grow leaves in abundances that will nourish the hatchlings when they emerge as caterpillars. 

According to Wikipedia:

In several European countries with Germanic languages, other than Britain, the name for this butterfly literally translates to "mourning cloak", such as German "Trauermantel", Dutch "rouwmantel", Swedish "sorgmantel", Finnish "suruvaippa" and Norwegian "sørgekåpe". This suggests it is a name which came with Scandinavian or German rather than with British settlers, for whom this species would be considerably less familiar. Other common names include: Czech "Černopláštník" . "Babočka osiková". Polish "Rusałka żałobnik". Russian "Траурница" . Japanese "キベリタテハ" . Chinese "黄縁立羽". 

Having mated and laid eggs in spring and survived the year, the adults then die.