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Unlike butterflies, most moths (like Laothoe populi) fly by night and hide by day. Nearly all butterflies are diurnal, have relatively bright colours, and hold their wings vertically above their bodies when at rest, unlike the majority of moths which fly by night, are often cryptically coloured (well camouflaged), and either hold their wings ...
Monarch butterfly migration is the phenomenon, mainly across North America, where the subspecies Danaus plexippus plexippus migrates each autumn to overwintering sites on the West Coast of California or mountainous sites in Central Mexico. Other populations from around the world perform minor migrations or none at all.
There are records dating back to 1100 about migrating butterflies (probably a Pieris species) from Bavaria to the Duchy of Saxony and from 1248 about the migration of yellow butterflies in Japan. When flying at high altitudes, spotting migrating butterflies or moths can be hard. Low flying species are easily spotted or caught using a light trap ...
While the butterflies form a monophyletic group, the moths, which comprise the rest of the Lepidoptera, do not. Many attempts have been made to group the superfamilies of the Lepidoptera into natural groups, most of which fail because one of the two groups is not monophyletic: Microlepidoptera and Macrolepidoptera, Heterocera and Rhopalocera, Jugatae and Frenatae, Monotrysia and Ditrysia.
Monarch butterflies flying and sipping nectar from milkweed flowers. The adult's wingspan ranges from 8.9 to 10.2 centimetres (3.5 to 4.0 in). [11] The upper sides of the wings are tawny orange, the veins and margins are black, and two series of small white spots occur in the margins. Monarch forewings also have a few orange spots near their tips.
Lepidoptera (/ ˌ l ɛ p ɪ ˈ d ɒ p t ər ə / LEP-ih-DOP-tər-ə) or lepidopterans is an order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths.About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organisms, [1] [2] making it the second largest insect order (behind Coleoptera) with 126 families [3] and 46 superfamilies ...
Nymphalis antiopa, known as the mourning cloak in North America and the Camberwell beauty in Britain, is a large butterfly native to Eurasia and North America. The immature form of this species is sometimes known as the spiny elm caterpillar. [2] Other older names for this species include grand surprise and white petticoat.
A tau emerald (Hemicordulia tau) dragonfly has flight muscles attached directly to its wings. Insects are the only group of invertebrates that have evolved wings and flight. Insects first flew in the Carboniferous, some 300 to 350 million years ago, making them the first animals to evolve flight.