How many different kinds of Butterflies are there?

There are approximately 20,000 species of butterflies in the world. About 725 species have occurred in North American north of Mexico, with about 575 of these occurring regularly in the lower 48 states of the United States, and with about 275 species occurring regularly in Canada. Roughly 2000 species are found in Mexico.

What is the difference between Butterflies and Moths?

Although butterflies and moths are very similar, they have many differences. Most butterflies fly during the day, and most moths fly during the night. Most Butterflies are very colorful and most moths are a variation of brown tones. There are of course exceptions to that rule. Urania ripheus is a very beautiful and colorful day flying moth from Madagascar. Another way to tell a butterfly from a moth is to look at its antenna. A butterfly’s antenna have knobs at the ends of their feelers, and the ends of the moth’s antenna is either feather like or plain. The male moths in particular have big feathery antennae that look like ferns. Female moths will usually have smaller antennae.

Also, most butterflies rest with their wings held up above their bodies and most moths rest with their wings spread out flat.

Most butterflies have slender, hairless bodies, while most moths have a fat abdomen and furry bodies. Butterflies form a chrysalis during the pupa stage of their lives. In moths, the chrysalis is normally contained inside a cocoon. Most moths have tiny hook or bristle hooking the forewings and hind wings together. Butterflies do not have this hook. Moths have existed about 100 million years longer than butterflies.

So although butterflies and moths appear very much alike, there are quite a number of differences.

How can you tell the difference between male and female Butterflies?

In some species, male and female butterflies differ a lot, and in others it is barely noticeable. With some species there is only a slight variation of patterns on the wings, such as missing a spot on the lower wing or having thicker defining lines. With other species such as bird wings (Ornithopterans) the male and female are so different they are often mistaken for different species, with one being a vibrant color and the other being dull, brown and grey. Some females mimic other species while the males look very different in comparison. The shape of the wing can also differ. Males have straight edged wings, whereas females sweep in a curved shape. The size also differs but it depends on the species as to whether the male or the female is bigger. There are usually obvious differences in behavior as well – males tend to actively patrol their habitats, or to establish a small territory which they defend against other butterflies. Females by comparison are far more sedentary, and in the early part of their flight period tend to stay in areas where both adult and larval food sources are present. The males of Some species, Hairstreaks, Satyrines, large Fritillaries and Skippers, often have androconia ( scent scales ) in the form of dark patches or streaks on the upperside forewings. To tell if a monarch butterfly is a male or female, you need to look for a special spot. The special spot is called an alar spot. If the butterfly is male, it will have an alar spot on a vain on each hind wing. Another way to tell the difference between males and females in species where there are no color differences, like in the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanilla), is to look for claspers at the end of the abdomen. The male butterfly’s abdomen will end in what look a little bit like tweezers or “claspers” which are used in mating.

What is metamorphosis?

Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal’s body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Some insects, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, Cnidarians, echinoderms and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is usually (but not always) accompanied by a change of habitat or behavior. Butterflies and Moths hatch from their eggs as caterpillars. They basically eat and poop for a week or more. When they reach a certain size, they will spin a cocoon (in the case of moths) or form a chrysalis (in the case of Butterflies). After another week or even after half a year, the Butterfly or Moth will emerge in its final winged form and fly off to mate and lay more eggs. In Butterflies and Moths the transformation is so complete, it’s called: “holometabolism.” This means that the larvae differ markedly from the adults. Insects which undergo holometabolism pass through a larval stage, then enter an inactive state called pupa, or chrysalis, and finally emerge as adults. Holometabolism is also known as “complete” and “complex” metamorphosis. Whilst inside the pupa, the insect will excrete digestive juices, to destroy much of the larva’s body, leaving a few cells intact. The remaining cells will begin the growth of the adult, using the nutrients from the broken down larva. This process of cell death is called histolysis, and cell regrowth,  histogenesis.

Butterfly mimicry

Butterflies will often try to look like something else to protect themselves. Some Butterflies like the Brassolidea family are called Owl Butterflies because they have huge eyespots on their bask wings which look like Owl eyes. Some Butterflies try to look like dead leaves. The Kallima species are particularly good at looking just like dead leaves when sitting folded up.

Other Butterflies are colored just the same as another species which may be poisonous or distasteful to birds. The most famous mimicry ring like that is the Monarch/Viceroy resemblance. The Monarch does not taste good to Birds because its caterpillar feeds on milkweed. It advertises this by being colored red and black. The Viceroy is not distasteful, but it looks so much like the monarch that birds will avoid it as well.

Another example of this type of mimicry is the Tiger swallowtail. The Pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) does not taste good to birds because its caterpillar eats pipevine. In areas where the pipevine swallowtail is found, the tiger swallowtail female (normally yellow and black) has a dark form that resembles the pipevine swallowtail.

What is a lepidopterist?

A lepidopterist is a person who studies lepidopterans, members of an order comprised of butterflies, skippers, and moths. An entomologist is a collectors of insects.

Largest Butterfly in the World

Largest Moth in the World