Rouge Valley Naturalists

There are currently 150 000 named species of butterflies and moths.
Moths far outnumber butterflies worldwide by about 90% of the total.
Speeds of up to 80 km per hour have been recorded for some butterflies during very short bursts of flight. Normal flight is at about 20-25 km/h. Butterflies normally use wind to increase air speed.
Butterflies normally beat their wings between 5 to 12 beats per second.
South America has more butterflies then anywhere else on Earth, with 10 000 species and still plenty of sites waiting to be explored.
The peak of butterfly activity is during the hottest period of the day – usually between 11AM and 4PM
Butterfly fossil records begin about 40 million years ago, while moths appeared 140 million years ago…with dinosaurs.
The largest butterfly in the world is the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing ( Ornithoptera alexandrae) form New Guinea with a wingspan of 280mm.
The smallest butterfly in the world is the Pygmy Blue ( Brephidium exiis ) from the southern United States with a wingspan of 15mm.
The world's most common butterfly is the Cabbage White ( Artogeia rapae ).

Butterflies and moths are INSECTS.
Insects and spiders are invertebrates.
Invertebrates are animals without backbones.
Butterflies and moths belong to a group of insects of the order Lepidoptera.
Lepidoptera is a Greek word meaning scaled wing.
Butterflies are divided into two families – true butterflies are called papilionoidae , and skippers are called hesperioidae .

2 antennae (1 pair) used for smelling, touching, for orientation as well as for balance while flying.
a long, coiled proboscis, which is a tongue-like structure that works like a drinking straw.
2 furry palpi, which receive sensations, protect the proboscis and clean the eyes.
1 large pair of compound eyes that allow the butterflies to see in all directions – above, below, in front and in back. Butterflies can see colours and even ultra-violet light!

The thorax is he point of attachment for the butterfly's 6 legs and 2 pairs of wings.

Butterfly legs are made up of 5 sections that end in clawed tarsi. The tarsi serve as feet. The tarsi possess a sense similar to taste.
The forewings and the hindwings are used for flight and as colour guides for camouflage and mimicry. The wings also allow butterflies to identify between a male and female butterfly. The wings are made up of millions of shingle-like scales that give them their colour and patterns.

The abdomen is a long tube that contains the digestive tract and the reproductive system. The abdomen also has a row of spiracles on each side for the butterfly to breath from.

Butterflies are usually seen flying during the day.
They are often brightly coloured.
Their antennae are thin and swollen at the end – clubbed antennae.
They commonly hold their wings up over their body when at rest.
Moths are usually seen flying at night.
Their colours are often dull.
They often have feathery antennae.
They commonly hold their wings down flat when at rest.

1. A female butterfly can lay 100 to 200 eggs several times in her lifespan, totalling anywhere from 400 to 600 eggs! The females choose very specific plants to lay their eggs on. These plants are called host plants. These plants are the ones the caterpillars will eat.

2. After a few days to a week, the caterpillar hatches from the egg. Another name for caterpillar is larvae. A caterpillar's first meal is usually its own eggshell! The caterpillar is very tiny at first, but because it never stops eating, it grows very fast- about 3000X its original body weight!

Caterpillars will eat the leaves of their host plant and sometimes they will eat the stems and the flowers.
Caterpillars shed their skin about five or six times before reaching their full size. This process is called moulting or ecdysis.
Each stage of moulting is referred to as an instar.

3. When the caterpillar has finished growing, it will pupate. The pupa of a butterfly is called a chrysalis and the pupa of a moth is called a cocoon. Cocoons are covered with silk and chrysalides are not. Within the chrysalis, great changes are taking place. The caterpillar is being transformed into an adult butterfly!

4. After a few weeks to several months, the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis. After drying off, the butterfly is ready to fly off to eat and mate. At this stage, the butterfly does not grow. It will live for a period of a week to several months. The butterfly's main concern is to reproduce and in the case of females, to lay eggs.

The scales help in absorbing and reflecting sunlight when the butterflies are basking. The scales are also slippery and easily detached. This helps butterflies escape from predators more easily. Some of the scales in male butterflies have even become specialized in producing scents during courtship.

If you touch a butterfly, the scales will easily rub off the wings. This could damage the butterfly's wing. Insects are cold-blooded animals and they depend on their environment for heat. If too many scales are rubbed off, they will not be capable of retaining as much heat.

Butterflies and moths often blend in with their environment. This is called camouflage.

Many butterflies have bright colours on the upper side of their wings. But when at rest, they fold their wings up over their bodies and their undersides look very similar to tree bark.

Some butterflies have colours that advertise they are not good to eat. This is called warning colouration.

Many edible butterflies have evolved to look very similar to toxic butterflies as a means of protection. An example of this is the monarch and the viceroy butterflies. Monarchs are not tasty butterflies, as a result of feeding on the milkweed plant at the larval stage. Viceroys on the other hand are very edible. Since the viceroy looks very similar to the monarch, predators, like birds, will stay away from both species. This is called mimicry.

Some caterpillars look very much like bird droppings and are likely to avoid bird predation. These caterpillars include many swallowtails, admirals and the viceroy.

Eyespots are found on various butterfly and moth wings. These make them look much larger and if attacked, the predator will aim for the eyespot and not the actual head.

Various caterpillars have projections on their tails that look very similar to antennae. In this case, there is a 50/50 chance the predator will aim for the tail and not the head allowing the caterpillar to escape.

Butterflies will feed on nectar, rotting fermenting fruit, bird droppings, dung, decaying mushrooms and fungus, decomposing animal remains, honey, pollen, sap from wounded trees, mammal urine, mud-puddles and even human perspiration!

When you see many butterflies drinking from a puddle on the ground, they are puddling. Butterflies drink this muddy liquid to ingest many necessary nutrients especially salts. These will increase their lifespan and assist in the production and development of eggs. If you want to attract butterflies to your garden, try adding one or several mud puddles.

The main food for most butterflies is nectar from flowers. This sweet solution gives the butterflies energy for flight and for reproduction. Butterflies prefer some nectar plants to others.

Photo Credit: Geoff Clausen, "Milkweed"
The shape of the milkweed flowers provide easy access to the sweet nectar

The corolla is the showy inner floral envelope. The segments of the corolla are called the petals and are usually coloured.

The pistil is the central female organ of a flower, which is comprised of a swollen ovary at the base (where the seed develops), a slender stalk, the style and the sticky tip, the stigma (where the pollen is collected).

The stamen is the male flower organ (there are usually several). It is composed of slender stalk, the filament with a knoblike anther , bearing pollen.

POLLEN is a protein-rich mass of grains on the anthers of a flower. Each pollen grain contains two sperm cells internally. The outside of the pollen grain contains proteins and other food items that attract certain butterflies.

POLLINATION by bees, beetles, flies and butterflies is essential to the survival of many plants, our own survival and much of our agricultural industry.

Butterflies and moths rank second only to bees as beneficial pollinators of fruit and other crops.

They pollinate flowering plants by carrying pollen from plant to plant on their mouthparts, legs and feet and even on their wings.

NECTAR is a sugar-rich secretion from specialized glands in a plant's flowers. Nectar may also contain free amino acids and other nutrients attractive to butterflies. The plant uses this nectar reward to bring pollinators such as butterflies to its flowers. That way, the pollen will be transferred from one flower to another flower by the flying insect and the pants will be cross-pollinated. Some flowers have even modified their shape to make it much easier for butterflies and moths to sip nectar. As well as being brightly coloured, there are special ultraviolet ‘honey guides' on the flower petals so that butterflies can find the plant.

Butterflies and moths may spend the winter in any of their life stages. Some over-winter as eggs such as the Gypsy moths. The caterpillars of the Baltimore butterfly spin themselves into silk tents on top of their food plant and pass the winter there. Others will spend the winter in the cocoon or chrysalis. Some butterflies will even hibernate as adults! The red admiral will hibernate in hollow logs and the mourning cloak will seek any shelter available. Some butterflies such as the monarch will migrate very far distances to escape the cold.

It is said that the English name for butterfly originated in Britain , where people would see the yellow brimstone butterflies fluttering in early spring and compare them to butter flying. In France , they are called ‘papillon'. Parking tickets are also called papillon. The tickets are big pieces of yellow paper and when placed under the windshield wiper, they look like big yellow butterflies flapping their wings in the wind.