Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera: Butterflies and Moths


My research project is over butterflies and moths. Butterflies and moths are a homogenous group of insects that forms the order Lepidoptera. Homogenous means the same or similar kind of nature. The name Lepidoptera is greek, meaning scale and wings. The insect order Lepidoptera is the largest and most important of all other orders. Most species of butterflies are day- flying so they attract attention regularly. These are known as butterflies, the night fliers are often known as moths. The diverse patterns formed by their brightly colored, and some dull- colored, and their erratic yet graceful flight have made butterfly watching a popular hobby. Adult females are often larger than males. Male moths usually have very elaborate antennae. Coloration may be different between the sexes.
Butterflies and moths are beautiful, flying insects with large scaly wings. The butterflies and moths body is covered by tiny sensory hairs. They have two pairs of large wings covered with colorful, scales in overlapping rows. Veins support the delicate wings and nourish them with blood. Butterflies and moths can only fly if their body temperature is above 86 degrees. Butterflies and moths sun themselves to warm up in cool weather. As butterflies & moths age, the color of the wings fades and the wings become ragged.
The speed varies among butterfly species (the poisonous varieties are slower than non – poisonous varieties). Like all insects, they have six- jointed legs, 3 body parts, a pair of antennae compound eyes, and an exoskeleton. The three body parts are the head, the thorax (the chest) , and the abdomen (the tail). The insect’s head is sometimes referred to as the head- capsule, and is the insect’s feeding and sensory centre. It supports the eyes, antennae and jaws of the insect. (Note: insects do not breathe through their mouths, but through their abdominal spiracles). The thorax consist of three segments, the "prothorax", "mesathorax", "metathorax". The abdomen is a roughly tubular structure made up of ten segments, the last two or three of which are modified into secondary reproductive organs.
In general butterflies have slender bodies, are brightly colored, and fly in the daytime. Moths have stout bodies, is dull colored, and fly at dusk or in the night time. Both larval and adult butterflies and moths are often highly colored. Sometimes the colors are bright and are intended to warn away potential predators. Often, this indicates that they taste bad to a predator. Other times the bright colors are meant to attract mates. Some are colored to look very much like a food plant in order to help the insect hide. Eggs of lepidoptera often have very elaborate shells, and may be either brightly colored or cryptic. The egg shell or chorion, are usually very hard to prevent predators from eating them.
There are, however, some brightly colored, slender – bodied moths, and conversely, there are butterflies, especially those in the family group known as " Skippers". The colors of butterflies may be divided into two classes, those caused by the pigments which are deposited in the scales, and those caused by interference with, or diffraction of light due to the nature of the construction of the scales, the so – called " structural colors". The fastest butterflies (some skippers) can fly at about 30 mile per hour or faster. Slow flying butterflies fly about 5 mph.
Butterflies go through a complete metamorphosis. This means that there are four separate stages, each of which looks completely different and serves a different purpose in the life of the insect. The four stages are; egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The egg is a tiny, round, oval, or cylindrical object, usually with fine ribs and other microscopic structures. The larva is the long, wormlike stage of the butterfly or moth. The pupa is the transformation stage within which the caterpillar tissues are broken down and the adult insect’s structures are formed. The adult is the colorful butterfly or moth usually seen.
Butterflies and moths can only sip liquid food using a tube- like proboscis, which is a long, flexible "tongue". This proboscis uncoils to sip food, and coils up again into a spiral when not in use. Most butterflies live on nectar from flowers. Some butterflies sip the liquid from rotting fruits and a rare few prefer rotting animal flesh or animal fluids (the harvester butterfly pierces the bodies of wolly aphids with its sharp proboscis and drinks the body fluids).
Butterflies are found all over the world and in all types of environments: hot and cold, dry and moist, at sea level and high in the mountains. Most butterfly species, however, are found in tropical areas, especially tropical rainforest. Many butterflies migrate in order to avoid adverse environmental conditions (like cold weather). Butterfly migration is not well understood. It is estimated that there are about 150,000 different species of butterflies and moths. (there may be more). There are about 28,000 butterfly species worldwide, the rest are moths. Butterfly fossils are VERY hard to find.
Butterflies and moths can be difficult to find, but looking for known food plants makes the task easier. Different swallowtail caterpillars eat parsley, dill, citrus leaves and sometimes carrot greens. If milkweed grows in your area, monarch caterpillars will be on the plants in the spring or summer. Locate many large moth caterpillars like the tomato sphinx caterpillar by the frass below the plant they are eating. Carefully look above the piles of frass for damaged leaves and the caterpillar. Many caterpillars feed on large trees and locating them is next to impossible unless there is an infestation. Consult local gardeners, scientists and other resource people to find good places to find caterpillars.















Bibliography
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 2007. http://www. hhmi.org/coolscience/ butterfly/index.html
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Wikipedia. " Butterfly". Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. 2007. http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki.buttrfly