Frequently asked, or some with interesting answers - here are facts on butterflies
and moths.
List of
Questions
What is the difference between a butterfly and a moth?
Why are the wings of butterflies and moths dusty to the touch?
How do butterflies defend themselves against predators?
How do the scales on a butterfly's wings produce such vivid patterns?
Why do male pruple emperor butterflies like to drink from rotting animal corpses? (!)
Where do butterflies go in the winter?
Where will you find butterfly trees?
Which butterfly depends on ants to complete its life cycle?
How does the caterpillar of the elephant hawkmoth defend itself?
How do moth sprotect themselves from bats?
Why do moths circle a bright light at night?
What is a Goliath Birdwing?
Which was the first butterfly to be reintroduced in the wild?
Which butterfly does the African Swallowtail mimic?
Where would you look for an Apollo butterfly?
Where would you look for the biggest butterfly in the world?
Why are the undersides of a butterfly's wings dull and mottled?
What is the difference between a butterfly and a moth?
People tend to think of moths as dull=colored, night-flying insects with
fat, furry bodies, and butterflies as brightly colored, day-flying insects. In fact,
there are many brightly colored moths which fly by day. The six-spot
burnet moth and the emperor moth are two examples. To a scientist, the real difference lies in the shape of their antennae
and the linkage between the forewings and hind wings. A butterfly's antennae are
long and slender, and tipped with knobs, and the moth's antennae are thin
and feathery. At rest, most butterflies hold their wings together over
their bodies, revealing the underside pattern, and moths hold their wings either spread
out flat or at separate angles to each other.
Why are the ings of butterflies and moths dusty to touch?
Butterflies and moths belong to the order Lepidoptera, which means
"scaly wings". If you happen to touch a butterfly's or a moth's wings,
your fingers will become covered with a fine dust. This fine dust is
made of the tiny, overlapping scales that cover the insects wings. These
scales produce the intricate and often brilliant markings for which
butterflies (and some moths) are known.
How do butterflies defend themselves against predators?
Butterflies are not as delicate and dfenseless as they may seem. The monarch butterfly is
extremely tough and foul-tasting to birds, and can even manage to withstand teh occasional peck.
False wing markings on wing tails may fool predators into biting
sections of the wings that are expendable, and the undersides of a butterfly's
wings may provide superb camoflauge against surrounding vegetation. Large,
bright eyespot markings, like those on the peacock butterfly, may
also serve to startle a foe.
How do the scales on a butterfly's wings produce such vivid patterns?
Each scale on a butterfly's wing is colored, and interlocks with the
other scales on the wing to form a pattern, much like a mosaic picture. The white and
red colors are produced by pigments in the scales; the blues and metallic
hues are caused by the way certain wavelenghts of light are reflected off
the structural surface of the scales.
Why do male purple emperor butterflies like to drink from rotting animal corpses?
(That one came out of nowhere, huh?) The male purple emperor butterfly may
occasionally be spotted feeding from dung or rotten animal corpses on the
woodland floor in order to increase the supply of sodium salts in his
reproductive organs. Theses extra salts are then passed on to the female for
use in egg production.
Where do butterflies go in the winter?
Most butterflies of temperate regions such as North America and northern Europ
spend the winter as eggs or pupae. Some, such as the red admiral, hibernate
in the adult form. Others migrate southward to warmer areas.
Where will you find butterfly trees?
There is a type of conifer(pine tree) which grows in Mexico, California, and Florida that
provides a yearly winter home for millions of monarch butterflies. The
butterflies cling to these trees in such dense clusters that the trees
appear to be dripping with butterflies. The butterflies rest here until
the spring, and then begin their warm-weather migration back north.
Which butterfly depends on ants to complete it's life cycle?
The large blue butterfly has a remarkable life cycle, part of which is
spent in the company of an ant(the Myrmica ant). The adult butterfly lays her eggs
on the thyme plant, on which the caterpillar feed during the first few
weeks of life. The caterpillar leaves the plant and is "discovered" by ants,
which are attracted to the sweet substance given off by the caterpillar.
The caterpillar is carried off by the ants to their nest,
where they milk the caterpillar, which in turn feeds
on the young ant larvae. The caterpillar spends the winter in the nest, pupates, and finally
emerges from the nest as an adult.
How does the caterpillar of the elephant hawkmoth defend itself?
The caterpillar of the elephant hawkmoth is about 3 inches long, brown, and
has four large eyespots near its head. If disturbed by a toad, it draws in its head
and the body segments behind the head bulge out, making the eyespots seem huge. This
makes the caterpillar look like a miniature snake to the toad, which
adopts a defensive posture, blowing up its body and rising up on its legs.
How do moths protect themselves from bats?
Bats hunt by a sophisticated method of echolocation. They send out
high-pitched sound waves and use the echoes to judge the position of potential prey. Some American moths
have developed the ability to tune in to the bat's sonar system; as soon
as they detect a bat approaching, they fall to the ground like a stone.
Others dive into a spiral, and still others manage to block the bat's signal or send
back confusing high-pitched sounds.
Why do moths circle a bright light at night?
The allure of a bright light source is prehaps best explained by the moth's
reaction to fixed natural light, such as the moon. When the distant light of
the moon is received by one section of the compound eye, the moth tries to keep
that part of the eye illuminated, and it flies in a straight line until
otherwise diverted. If the light is relatively near, ten the moth will fly in a curve. This
curved flight pattern develops into a spiral as the moth descends on to
the light source.
What is a Goliath Birdwing?
An enormous butterfly, found in the forests of New Guinea, which has a
wingspan of up to 8 inches. The male is dressed in a dazzling pattern of black and
metallic green, and the female is only slightly less colorful. Despite its
name, the Goliath is not the largest butterfly of all. Its close
relative, the Queen Alexandra's birdwing, can reach a wingspan of
11 inches.
Which was the first butterfly to be reintroduced in the wild? The large copper, which was reintroduced into Britain in 1898,
using butterflies from continental Europe. The butterfly had originally
died out due to drainage of marshlands and over-enthusiastic
collecting by late-18th-century naturalists. This first
reintroduction was unsuccessful, but in 1927 a second attempt was made,
and these butterflies survived.
Which butterfly does the African swallowtail mimic?
The usual form of the African swallowtail butterfly is the male form:
a creamy color with dark "tailed" wings. The female may sometimes be uite
unlike the male, as she frequently mimics the coloring and wing pattern of the
inedible butterflies of the milkweed family (which are predominantly orange and
black). In this way she runs less risk of being eaten by predators.
Where would you look for an Apollo butterfly?
Apollos are beautfiul large white butterflies with a slow, fluttering
flight. They used to be widespread in mountainous regions of Europe and Asia, but populations
are now small and isolated.
Where would you look for the biggest butterfly in the world?
The Queen Alexandra birdwing butterfly is the largest and heaviest butterfly
in the world. It is, unfortunately, very rare, and lives only
in a small area of rain forest in Papua New Guinea.
Why are the undersides of a butterfly's wings dull and mottled?
Butterflies are easy to see as they fly around becaue of their brightly
colored wings. When they land, butterflies hold their wings vertically, hiding the distinctive patterns
and showing only the dull, bronish undersides. This camouflages
the insect, making it safer from hungry predators.
