Although it may appear at first glance that butterflies only have two wings, if you have a closer look it becomes obvious that each side of the body has a forewing and a hindwing. The wings are covered with coloured scales, which are basically tiny flattened hairs that give colour to the wings. Butterfly scales are so small that without a microscope they just look like coloured dust, and they are delicate enough that they will brush right off the wing if they are rubbed.
Scales are unique to butterflies and moths, and they come in three varieties: pigmented, diffractive, and androconia. Patterns on the wings can help camouflage the butterfly, warn predators that a butterfly is poisonous, surprise or distract predators with flashy displays, and help a butterfly attract and communicate with other butterflies of its species.
In the case of poisonous butterflies like the Monarch, the wings are also an excellent place for storing toxins though you would have to eat them to get sick. This is where the butterfly processes foods and wastes. Although spiracles may also found on other parts of the body, most of them are located on the abdomen. All of the important male and female organs involved in reproduction are found in the abdomen, located towards the tip. The abdomen is also where the eggs develop and remain until a female butterfly lays them.
It is worthwhile to note that there is no such thing as a stinging butterfly. Butterflies have no stinging organs or venom in their abdomens, or anywhere else in their bodies. Butterflies and moths are very closely-related insect groups that make up the Order Lepidoptera.
They all use tiny coloured scales to colour and pattern their bodies and wings, and have very similar body plans and life cycles. This is fairly close to reality, since moths make up nearly all species in the Lepidoptera — butterflies are essentially just a very specialized group of day-flying moths, and they make up only a tiny part of the Lepidoptera! Then imagine that one of these groups just one of them!
What would you call this group? The answer is: butterflies! As you can see, moths and butterflies are very closely connected, more so than most people realize. So, what is the difference? How do you tell them apart? The most reliable way to tell butterflies apart from moths is to look at their antennae.
The antennae, or feelers, are found on the head just above the eyes. The antennae are not fuzzy or feathery, but look more like wire. Butterflies hold their antennae out and forward, where they are easy to see. In contrast, moth antennae left tend to be thicker in the middle and get thinner towards the ends, appearing to taper to a point. Moth antennae are feather-like, covered in projections or teeth that make them look like a feather or comb.
For some moths this is very obvious, but for others the feathery parts are very short and hard to see. Unlike butterflies, some moths tuck their antennae alongside their bodies when they are resting, but many hold their antennae out like butterflies do. Then make a mark on the ball at about the point. Make another cut there, and insert the other stick. Your model butterfly is now complete. The ball represents the body of the insect.
Instead of having muscles attached directly to their wings, most insects move their wings by changing the shape of their bodies. Muscles attach to the top and bottom of the body. Contracting those muscles flattens the body, causing the wings to move up. You can see that by squeezing the ball from top to bottom. As the insect flies, its body is flexed by muscles, causing the wings to move up and down.
By controlling how much each set of muscles contracts, the insect can change the movement of its wings to control its flight.
This method of flight is used by most insects, including bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and moths. There are a few insects, most notably Dragonflies and Damselflies, that do have muscles attached to the base of their wings.
This lets them control each wing independently, making them very agile fliers. Skip to main content. To observe some activities, such as hybernation, may involve some detective work.
To observe other activities such as basking, puddling, or migrating, you will need to be at the proper place at the proper time. Keep an activity log and see how many different butterflies you can spot involved in each activity. The information from the individual butterfly pages may give you some hints as to where or on what plants some of these activities are likely to occur. The larval or caterpillar stage and the adult butterfly have very different food preferences, largely due to the differences in their mouth parts.
Both types of foods must be available in order for the butterfly to complete its life cycle. Caterpillars are very particular about what they eat, which is why the female butterfly lays her eggs only on certain plants. She instinctively knows what plants will serve as suitable food for the hungry caterpillars that hatch from her eggs. Caterpillars don't move much and may spend their entire lives on the same plant or even the same leaf!
Their primary goal is to eat as much as they can so that they become large enough to pupate. Caterpillars have chewing mouth parts, called mandibles, which enable them to eat leaves and other plant parts.
Some caterpillars are considered pests because of the damage they do to crops. Caterpillars do not need to drink additional water because they get all they need from the plants they eat.
Adult butterflies are also selective about what they eat. Unlike caterpillars, butterflies can roam about and look for suitable food over a much broader territory. In most cases, adult butterflies are able to feed only on various liquids. They drink through a tube-like tongue called a proboscis. It uncoils to sip liquid food, and then coils up again into a spiral when the butterfly is not feeding.
Most butterflies prefer flower nectar, but others may feed on the liquids found in rotting fruit, in ooze from trees, and in animal dung. Butterflies prefer to feed in sunny areas protected from wind. A recent University of Kentucky Department of Entomology study compared four commonly available zinnia cultivars with regard to their attractiveness to butterflies.
Butterflies are cold-blooded , meaning they cannot regulate their own body temperature. As a result, their body temperature changes with the temperature of their surroundings. If they get too cold, they are unable to fly and must warm up their muscles in order to resume flight. If the temperature drops too low, they may seek a light colored rock, sand or a leaf in a sunny spot and bask. Butterflies bask with their wings spread out in order to soak up the sun's heat. When butterflies get too hot, they may head for shade or for cool areas like puddles.
Some species will gather at shallow mud puddles or wet sandy areas, sipping the mineral-rich water. Generally more males than females puddle and it is believed that the salts and nutrients in the puddles are needed for successful mating. Patrolling and perching. There are two methods that a male butterfly might use in order to search for a female mate. It might patrol or fly over a particular area where other butterflies are active. If it sees a possible mate, it will fly in for a closer look.
Or, instead, it might perch on a tall plant in an area where females may be present. If it spots a likely mate, it will swoop in to investigate. In either case, if he finds a suitable female he will begin the mating ritual. If he finds another male instead, a fierce fight may ensue.
A male butterfly has several methods of determining whether he has found a female of his own species. One way is by sight. The male will look for butterflies with wings that are the correct color and pattern. When a male sights a potential mate it will fly closer, often behind or above the female.
Once closer, the male will release special chemicals, called pheromones , while it flutters its wings a bit more than usual. The male may also do a special "courtship dance" to attract the female. These "dances" consist of flight patterns that are peculiar to that species of butterfly. If the female is interested she may join the male's dance. They will then mate by joining together end to end at their abdomens. During the mating process, when their bodies are joined, the male passes sperm to the female.
As the eggs later pass through the female's egg-laying tube, they are fertilized by the sperm. The male butterfly often dies soon after mating.
After mating with a male, the female butterfly must go in search of a plant on which to lay her eggs. Because the caterpillars that will hatch from her eggs will be very particular about what they eat, she must be very particular in choosing a plant. She can recognize the right plant species by its leaf color and shape. Just to be sure, however, she may beat on the leaf with her feet.
This scratches the leaf surface, causing a characteristic plant odor to be released. Once she is sure she has found the correct plant species, she will go about the business of egg-laying. While laying her eggs, they are fertilized with the sperm that has been stored in her body since mating. Some butterflies lay a single egg, while others may lay their eggs in clusters. A sticky substance produced by the female enables the eggs to stick where ever she lays them, either on the underside of a leaf or on a stem.
Butterflies are cold-blooded and cannot withstand winter conditions in an active state. Butterflies may survive cold weather by hibernating in protected locations. They may use the peeling bark of trees, perennial plants, logs or old fences as their overwintering sites. They may hibernate at any stage egg, larval, pupal or adult but generally each species is dormant in only one stage.
Another way that butterflies can escape cold weather is by migrating to a warmer region. Some migrating butterflies, such as the painted lady and cabbage butterfly, fly only a few hundred miles, while others, such as the monarch, travel thousands of miles.
Monarchs are considered the long-distance champions of butterfly migration, traveling as many as miles round trip. They begin their flight before the autumn cold sets in, heading south from Canada and the northern United States. Monarchs migrate to the warmer climates of California, Florida and Mexico, making the trip in two months or less and feeding on nectar along the way. Once arriving at their southern destination, they will spend the winter resting for the return flight.
Few of the original adults actually complete the trip home. Instead, the females mate and lay eggs along the way and their offspring finish this incredible journey.
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