BUTTERFLY/MOTH FACTS

I thought you may want to know more about butterflies and moths that visit your landscapes. The following are some butterfly and/or moth facts:

{ They both belong to the Lepidoptera (Scale winged) family

{ There are 20,000 different butterfly families and more than 240,000 moth families. Most live in the tropical rainforest

{ Both have a complete or 4-stage metamorphosis (when they move through a life stage change they look different than when they become an adult)

{ Adults have sucking mouth parts

{ They have compound eyes (hundreds of lenses that each focuses on a small area of the surrounding environment)

{ The proboscis is a long, straw-like tube that unrolls from the head when the butterfly’s feet land on the flower surface to eat or that sits on water for drinking

{ The antennae extend out of the front side of the head between the eyes. The insect uses these as a nose, for mating and for balancing while flying

{ In the immature or larval stage, they have chewing mouth parts (they do not bite, but hairs on some may sting)

{ They have six segmented legs

{ They have four wings which are composed of two membrane layers supported by tubular veins and covered by thousands of colorful scales (moth’s are thicker, making them look furry)

{ Colors are for attracting mates (males are usually brighter), warning predators or providing camouflage. Birds, bats, spiders, dragonflies, praying mantis, and mice love to eat butterflies and moths

{ The bright yellow and black, orange, or red colors tell other predators that they may bite, sting or taste bad. Their colors look like colors on less edible species

{ Butterflies usually lay one egg at a time on the specific host plant leaves and/or stems (coating them with an adhesive that fastens them to the leaf) – they hatch about five days later

{ Eggs from different butterflies have their own unique shape and color

{ At hatching, caterpillars eat their egg shell and then eat lots and lots of leaves from the host plant

{ After weeks of eating and growing, the caterpillar leaves the host plant and searches for a hiding place (bush, tall grass, piles of leaves or sticks, under siding on homes)

{ Inside the chrysalis, the larva changes into a butterfly – which takes only a few weeks

{ After the adult butterfly emerges, it looks for another butterfly to mate with

{ After mating, the female lays her eggs

{ Adult butterflies only live for about two weeks

{ When cold weather arrives some butterflies migrate to warmer areas (the Monarch migrates to only 12 mountaintop sites in Mexico)

I hope you find these facts as interesting as I did. And the next time you have butterflies and moths visiting your flowers, you may want to pay closer attention to these very interesting insects.