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Butterfly - Wikipedia is a comprehensive article that covers the biology, diversity, evolution, ecology, behavior, and cultural significance of butterflies, the flying insects with colorful wings and complex life cycles. Learn about the different families, genera, and species of butterflies, as well as their interactions with humans and the environment. Explore the fascinating world of these ...
May 3, 2024 · Perhaps the most distinctive physical features of the butterfly are its club-tipped antennae and its habit of holding the wings vertically over the back when at rest. The lepidopteran life cycle has four stages: egg, larva ( caterpillar ), pupa (chrysalis), and adult (imago). The larvae and adults of most butterflies feed on plants, often only ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Butterflies are commonly associated with plants, and the relationship is sometimes complex. Immatures, with few exceptions, eat plants, and therefore may be considered harmful to the plants. However, butterflies are very important to many plants that are dependent upon flower-visiting insects for cross-pollination.
- The Life Cycle of A Butterfly
- The Impact of Climate Change on Butterflies
- Five Interesting Butterfly Facts
- The Classification of All Different Butterfly Types
- The Different Types of Butterflies Breeds
The butterfly and the moth share similar lifestyle processes. Their life cycle is called metamorphosis. It comes from ancient Greek words that combine to mean a transformation in shape. There are two types of metamorphosis that an insect can have. Insects like crickets, dragonflies and cockroaches experience incomplete metamorphosis. We focus on co...
Butterflies often act as bioindicators for the effects of climate change. They are susceptible to their surroundings. They are often very well adapted for specific biomes and climatic conditions. For example, monarch butterflies have been bioindicators for the effect of climate change. Their migration patterns have changed dramatically compared to ...
1| The origin of the word “butterfly” has to do with witches and magic.
Etymologists believe the word comes from Old English. The old word was ‘butterfleoge.’ There are many theories about where the term comes from, but the most common one has to do with witches of lore. Ancients believed that witches would resemble butterflies in shape and size. They would use this form to steal milk and butter. Hence, the actual insects ended up getting the name ‘butterfly.’ Another theory is that the name comes from a member of the Pieridae family. Early naturalists in Britain...
2| The Cabbage White is likely the most common butterfly in North America.
The Cabbage White butterfly is a mid-sized butterfly that usually has a combination of white, cream, yellow and black marbled wings. They can also have greenish marbling on the wings. It is not only one of the more common butterflies globally, but it is also the most common butterfly in the U.S.
3| The Lotis Blue (Lycaeides argyrognomon lotis) is one of the rarest butterflies in the world.
The Lotis Blue Butterfly is a small butterfly with only a wingspan of about an inch (2.5 cm). They are beautiful blue butterflies that live throughout most of northern North America. They are endangered butterflies due to fires burning through much of their native peat regions. There have been reports that this butterfly is extinct. It has been rediscovered many times even after years of pulling a disappearing act. This time, the butterfly has not been seen in the wild since 1994. Some conser...
Butterflies belong to the class Insecta. From there, all butterflies and moths are pulled out into the order Lepidoptera. There are seven families of butterflies. These contain thousands of species distributed across the world.
1.0 Family Hedylidae: American Moth-Butterflies
Hedylidae moth-butterflies are an interesting grey area between butterflies and moths. They were viewed as an extant sister group to the superfamily of butterflies. However, in 1986, naturalists combined the group into a single genus called Macrosoma. This genus is a novel group of butterflies and is the only group of butterflies that doesn’t fall under the superfamily Papilionoidea.
2.0 Family Hesperiidae: Skippers
Skippers are another genera in the order Lepidoptera that blur the line between moths and butterflies. Since they are diurnal, they are called butterflies. Many of them have brown tones across their wings and bodies. This coloring can make them difficult for an untrained eye to differentiate from moths. There are more than 3,500 species of skippers recognized around the world. The majority of them live in the Neotropical regions of Central and South America.
3.0 Family Lycaenidae: Blues, Hairstreaks and Coppers
The Lycaenidae family is the second-largest family of the Lepidoptera butterflies. There are more than 6,000 species that fall under this family worldwide. Altogether, the members of these families constitute about 30% of all known butterflies. Their common name is gossamer-winged butterflies. There are seven total subfamilies within this family. We will pull out some of the most common butterflies under each of these.
Butterflies have a unique method of flight, combining both flapping and gliding, which is different from most other insects. Some species engage in a behavior called “puddling,” where they gather on wet soil, dung, or carrion to obtain nutrients. Butterflies have an incredible sense of direction and can travel hundreds of miles during ...
These butterflies create an awe-inspiring scene in Mexico. The majestic monarch makes the epic journey—up to 3,000 miles—from as far as Canada to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
People also ask
Are butterflies a moth or a butterfly?
What type of insect is a butterfly?
What is a monarch butterfly called?
What is a white butterfly?
Moths and butterflies are in the order Lepidoptera, deriving from the Greek words for “scale” and “wing.” The approximately 135,000 moth species and almost 20,000 butterfly species worldwide all have tiny scales on their wings. Butterflies evolved from moths, so it may be easier to think of butterflies as specialized day-flying moths.
