Butterfly is an insect or not and why. Lepidoptera is a detachment of insects with complete metamorphosis. Butterfly wing structure

Butterfly belongs to the class of insects, type arthropods, order Lepidoptera (lat. Lepidoptera).

The Russian name "butterfly" comes from the Old Slavonic word "babаka", denoting the concept of "old woman" or "grandmother". In the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, it was believed that these were the souls of the dead, so people treated them with respect.

Butterfly: description and photo. The structure and appearance of butterflies

In the structure of a butterfly, two main sections are distinguished - a body protected by a hard chitinous shell and wings.

A butterfly is an insect whose body consists of:

Head, inactively connected to the chest. The head of a butterfly has a rounded shape with a slightly flattened occiput. Round or oval convex eyes of a butterfly in the form of hemispheres, occupying most of the lateral surface of the head, have a complex facet structure. Butterflies have color vision, and moving objects perceive better than stationary ones. Many species have additional simple parietal eyes behind the antennae. The structure of the oral apparatus depends on the species and can be of a sucking or gnawing type.

Breast having a three-segment structure. The front part is much smaller than the middle and back, where there are three pairs of legs, which have a structure characteristic of insects. On the shins of the front legs of the butterfly there are spurs designed to maintain the hygiene of the antennae.
The abdomen has the shape of an elongated cylinder, consisting of ten ring-shaped segments with spiracles located on them.

Butterfly structure

The antennae of a butterfly are located on the border of the parietal and frontal parts of the head. They help butterflies to navigate in the environment, perceiving air vibrations and various smells.

The length and structure of the antennae depend on the species.

Two pairs of butterfly wings, covered with flat scales of various shapes, have a membranous structure and are pierced by transverse and longitudinal veins. The size of the hind wings can be the same as the front wings or much smaller than them. The pattern of butterfly wings varies from species to species and captivates with its beauty.

When macro photography, the scales on the wings of butterflies are very clearly visible - they can have completely different shape and color.

Butterfly wings - macro photography

The appearance and color of the butterfly wings serve not only for intraspecific sexual recognition, but also act as protective camouflage allowing you to blend in with your surroundings. Therefore, colors can be both monochrome and variegated with a complex pattern.

The size of a butterfly, or better to say the wingspan of a butterfly, can range from 2 mm to 31 cm.

Classification and types of butterflies

The numerous detachment of Lepidoptera includes more than 158 thousand representatives. There are several classification systems for butterflies, quite complex and intricate, with changes constantly taking place in them. The most successful is the scheme that divides this detachment into four suborders:

1) Primary toothed moths. These are small butterflies with a wingspan of 4 to 15 mm, with gnawing mouthparts and antennae that reach up to 75% of the size of the forewings in length. The family consists of 160 species of butterflies.

Typical representatives are:

golden small-winged (lat. Micropteryx calthella);
small-winged marigold (lat. Micropteryx calthella).

2) Proboscis butterflies. The wingspan of these insects, covered with dark small scales with cream or black spots, does not exceed 25 mm. Until 1967, they were classified as primary toothed moths, with which this family has much in common.

The most famous butterflies from this suborder:

flour fire (lat. Asopia farinalis L..),
fir cone moth (lat. Dioryctrica abieteila).

3) Heterobatmia, represented by one family Heterobathmiidae.

4) Proboscis butterflies, which make up the most numerous suborder, consisting of several dozen families, which include more than 150 thousand species of butterflies. Appearance and the sizes of representatives of this suborder are very diverse. Below are several families that demonstrate the diversity of proboscis butterflies.

Sailboat family, represented by medium and large butterflies with a wingspan of 50 to 280 mm. The pattern on the wings of butterflies consists of black, red or blue spots. various shapes, clearly visible against a white or yellow background. The most famous of them are:
1. Butterfly swallowtail;
2. Sailboat "Glory of Bhutan";
3. Birdwing of Queen Alexandra and others.

Butterfly swallowtail

Nymphalidae family, feature which is the absence of thickened veins on wide angular wings with variegated coloration and various patterns. Butterfly wingspan varies from 50 to 130 mm. Representatives of this family are:
1. Butterfly admiral;
2. Butterfly diurnal peacock eye;
3. Butterfly urticaria;
4. Butterfly mourning, etc.

Butterfly Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Butterfly diurnal peacock eye

Butterfly urticaria (Aglais urticae)

Butterfly mourner

, represented by night butterflies with narrow wings, the span of which does not exceed 13 cm and is distinguished by a characteristic pattern. The abdomen of these insects is thickened and spindle-shaped. The most famous butterflies of this family:
1. Hawk hawk "dead head";
2. Oleander hawk;
3. Poplar hawk.

Owl family, which includes more than 35,000 species of night butterflies. The span of gray with a metallic shade of fluffy wings averages 35 mm. However, in South America there is a species of butterflies, the agrippina tizania, with a wingspan of 31 cm or the atlas peacock-eye, the size of which resembles a bird. medium size.

Where do butterflies live in nature?

The distribution range of butterflies on the planet is very wide. It does not include only the ice expanses of Antarctica. Butterflies live everywhere from North America and Greenland to the coast of Australia and the island of Tasmania. The largest number species found in Peru and India. These fluttering insects make their flights not only in the flowering valleys, but also high in the mountains.

What do butterflies eat?

The diet of many butterflies consists of pollen and nectar. flowering plants. Many species of butterflies feed on tree sap, overripe and rotting fruit. And the dead head hawk moth is a real gourmet, because it often flies into hives and regales itself on the honey they have collected.

Some Nymphalidae butterflies need various trace elements and additional moisture. Their source is excrement, urine and sweat of large animals, wet clay, and human sweat.

These butterflies include the Madagascar comet, whose wingspan is 14-16 cm. The life expectancy of this butterfly is 2-3 days.

Also among the butterflies there are "vampires". For example, males of some species of cutworms maintain their strength thanks to the blood and tear fluid of animals. Such is the vampire butterfly (lat. Calyptra).

Few people think that the main diversity of the animal world is determined, first of all, by the huge mass of small, but ubiquitous, invertebrate animals. Their dimensions relative to animals and birds are quite small: from a few microns (single-celled protozoa) to several centimeters. But it is they who make up the bulk of animals in any region of the planet, and in the Urals too.

The oldest fossil butterflies (Archaeolepis) are known from Jurassic deposits near Dorset, UK, and are about 190 million years old. Many specimens of ancient insects have been preserved in fossilized resin - amber and copals. Having once stuck to the resin, they remained in it forever. And now entomologists are collecting entire collections of insects immured in amber, washed out by sea waves or dug up in quarries where amber is mined in the Baltic States and East Prussia. Most often, flies are found in amber (about 50% of all inclusions), beetles are in second place (4.5%), and butterflies are only in third (only 0.1% of finds). The rare occurrence of butterflies in resin is due to the fact that their wings are covered with scales and hairs, which prevented insects from sticking. And, of course, it was easier for small butterflies to get stuck in resin than large ones - in ambers and copals there are representatives of the Lepidoptera families, which differ in small sizes: moths, long-whiskered moths, leafworms, moths, bagworms and some others. Most of the species found in this way belong to extant families.

Butterflies are endowed with many ingenious devices that help them survive in the world full of dangers. The greatest development of the group coincides with the flowering of flowering plants in Cretaceous. Butterflies and flowers evolved side by side. Lepidoptera insects are found in almost all corners of the world, with the exception of Antarctica. They have adapted to a variety of habitat conditions.

Some live high in the mountains, others live on islands lost in the ocean, and some moths spend most of their lives in aquatic environment rivers and lakes. There are more than fifteen thousand Lepidoptera in Russia.

The world of insects, and in particular, the order Lepidoptera, in tourism can be used, first of all, for aesthetic purposes. With any tourist route in the forest, park, seeing a butterfly, you can focus the attention of tourists on this butterfly. Say what it is called and, if known, tell about any interesting facts from the life of this butterfly.

Currently, there are scientific collections, which are represented by the funds of museums, universities, research institutes, etc. Such collections are collected scientists who conduct specialized faunistic, evolutionary, and ecological research on butterflies. Scientific collections intended for public review.

Recently, many private collections have become exhibitions, bringing additional income to their creators.

It is interesting what kind of butterflies begin to flutter around the room in winter when you come to the garden. Turns out it's hives. And in the summer: you go to the forest, butterflies flutter around, and you don’t even know what they are called. It is necessary not only to admire the surrounding nature, but also to know its representatives in order to pass this knowledge on to the future generation and instill in children a love for nature.

Caterpillars of some species can be used in weed control.

Butterflies also act as pollinators (they are the best (after bees) pollinators of plants) of many species of flowering plants, because a significant part of these insects is characterized by the development of anthophily. In the course of evolution, butterflies have adapted to certain flowering plants, and a number of plant species have adapted to be pollinated exclusively by butterflies. For example, only yucca moths pollinate plants from the genus Yucca.

Do not forget about one more, it would seem, quite unexpected use of Lepidoptera: all natural silk is obtained from the finest threads that are spun by silkworm caterpillars.

In addition to being beneficial, butterflies can also be harmful. In human economic activity, butterflies, or rather their caterpillars, act as pests of garden and vegetable crops, however, on a smaller scale compared to beetles.

Caterpillars of moths are very voracious. They can damage the leaves, stems and roots of plants, eat stored food, spoil various fibers and other materials. The larvae of many species of moths cause significant damage to agriculture.

Probably the most noticeable type of damage caused by caterpillars to plants is defoliation, i.e., the destruction of foliage. Hungry butterfly larvae can literally bare fields, vegetable gardens and even forest plantations.

Characteristics of the order Lepidoptera, or Butterflies

The order of butterflies is called "lepidoptera", which means "lepidoptera" - the second largest order of insects in terms of the number of species (after beetles) with complete transformation. Currently, 140 thousand, and according to some sources - even 200 thousand species of butterflies are known. On the territory of Russia there are 8879 species. There are more than a thousand in the Urals.

Lepidoptera is one of the most species-rich orders of insects.

The detachment conditionally includes four large groups:

1. Inferior butterflies,

2. Fire-shaped butterflies,

3. Diurnal, or mace butterflies,

4. Higher butterflies with different noses.

The last group is often called nocturnal, which is not entirely correct, since many of them lead a daytime lifestyle. Club-shaped antennae are characteristic of diurnal animals. Higher moths, most of which are active at night, have filiform or feathery antennae. The mechanism for attaching the front and rear wings to the chest is different - mace butterflies are able to fold their wings “behind their backs”, while razor-billed butterflies leave their wings open flat or fold them “house”.

The sizes of butterflies of our world fluctuate widely from 2 millimeters (in small species of moths) to 32 centimeters (in the wingspan of some tropical species). The largest butterfly in the world is the South American scoop "tizania agrippa". However, its record long wings are relatively narrow, and therefore their surface is inferior to two other butterflies from New Guinea and nearby South Asian countries - the Hercules butterfly and the atlas. The surface of their wings is 300 square centimeters.

The largest diurnal butterfly in Russia is the Maaka sailboat, with a wingspan of up to 13.5 cm. And the largest night butterfly in Europe and Russia is the pear-eyed peacock, with a wingspan of up to 15 cm.

How a butterfly works

The membranous wings are covered with colored small scales (hence the name Lepidoptera), which determine the originality of the color and pattern of insects. Many butterflies are brightly and brightly colored. Butterfly wings have scales great value in the life of insects. They are necessary for flight, and their coloration is important for camouflage, for warning enemies (if the butterfly is inedible or poisonous), important for procreation (sometimes butterflies recognize or find each other by color). There are butterflies whose wings, by their very nature, are arranged in such a way that “windows” are left in them - transparent spots devoid of scales. Some, except for the very marginal zone, have wings without scales at all. They look like Hymenoptera.

There are three types of scales:

Ø Pigmentary, the color of which depends on the pigment grains in them;

Ø Optical - their color depends on the refraction of light;

Ø Odorous. Odorous scales are modified hairs and can be located not only on the wings, but also on the legs and abdomen of the butterfly. The substance that determines the smell of odorous scales is a pheromone and serves to attract individuals of the opposite sex. Fertilized females of most species of butterflies cease to secrete substances that attract males.

The smell of pheromones acts over very long distances. Another famous French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre (1823–1915) noted that male moths of the large nocturnal peacock eye fly to the smell of a female located at a distance of 10–11 km!

Each type of butterfly has its own smell. Sometimes it is pleasant - some butterflies smell like vanilla, mignonette, strawberries, geraniums, chocolate. Cabbage males smell like red geraniums, turnips smell like mignonette, rutabnitsa males smell like lemon flowers. Some butterflies retain attractive scents even after they have been dissected for collections. One scientist who collected butterflies always carried a specimen of a tropical butterfly with him so that from time to time he could enjoy the smell of its odorous scales.

But the smells of odorous scales are also unpleasant. Some scales, for example, smell like mold. Sometimes the smell emitted by butterflies is pleasant to our sense of smell, but unpleasant to other animals. For example, females and males silkworm smell like muscle. It is believed that its smell, while attracting sexual partners, at the same time scares away the enemies of the butterfly.

It is possible that the male butterfly finds the female not only by smell, but also by catching what comes from her. infrared radiation. Although butterflies are poikilothermic creatures, i.e. their body temperature generally depends on temperature environment, during the flight, with increased work of the muscles of the wing apparatus, the temperature of the butterflies rises. And sometimes very strongly - for example, some butterflies from the scoop family at an ambient temperature of -2 ° C can have a body temperature of up to +30 ° C.

Like all insects, the body of butterflies is divided into three main sections: head, thorax and abdomen. Outside, it is protected by a hard chitinous cover that forms the outer skeleton.

Their head is inactive, hypognathous, their eyes are large, round or oval, surrounded by hairs and occupy a significant part of the head. The antennae are located on the parietal part of the head and are sensory organs that perceive odors and air vibrations. The antennae also help maintain balance when flying. According to the structure, bristle-shaped, filiform, club-shaped, hooked, comb-shaped, pinnate types of antennae are distinguished.

The second main feature of butterflies is the structure of their mouth apparatus. There are butterflies that oral apparatus absent - such butterflies in adulthood (adults) do not eat anything and live on stocks accumulated by caterpillars. But most species have a sucking-type oral apparatus (soft and flexible proboscis). The taste organs of a butterfly are on its paws. And this “language” of hers is 2000 times more sensitive than that of a person. As soon as a butterfly touches delicious pollen or sweet juice with its paws, it immediately understands what's what, and its proboscis instantly unfolds. Its length depends on the depth of the calyx of the flower on which butterflies of a certain species feed. Sometimes the proboscises are very short, sometimes long, up to 35 centimeters, as, for example, in one of the species of the Madagascar hawk moth.

On the sides of the head are hemispherical, well-developed, complex, facet-type eyes, consisting of a large number (up to 27,000) of ommatidia, giving a general mosaic image. Lepidoptera are able to distinguish colors, but to what extent has not yet been studied enough. Some butterflies, such as urticaria and cabbage butterflies, distinguish red, while satyrs do not see it at all. Butterflies are most attracted to two colors - blue-violet and yellow-red. Butterflies are able to see ultraviolet rays that a person does not perceive, are sensitive to polarized light and are able to navigate in space using it. Butterflies, for example, it helps to quickly find the plants they need. Everything may seem uniformly green to us, but they capture shades invisible to people. Moving objects are much better than stationary ones.

In addition to two large compound eyes, some butterflies have two more dotted or simple eyes.

The thorax, like all insects, consists of three segments: prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax - bearing three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings. The chest is characterized by the maximum development of the middle segment, which bears the main load in the work of the wing apparatus. The metasternum has a subordinate meaning. The prothorax undergoes a marked reduction and is mostly membranous. The structure of the legs of most butterflies is typical of insects, they are walking or running, and in most species they are well developed. In some diurnal butterflies, they are noticeably reduced, and the front pair of legs is modified. The coxae are large, their connection with the thorax is inactive, the free part of the leg includes the trochanter, femur, tibia and tarsus (in most species, all tarsi are five-segmented with a pair of claws at the end).

Wings membranous, scaly, usually wide, rarely narrow, ribbon-like. In most species, the forewings are larger than the hindwings. Many species are brightly and brightly colored.

The shape of the wings of butterflies is varied, but in the vast majority of species they are suitable for flight.

Butterflies usually move widely in space in search of food, a sexual partner, or a place to lay their eggs. But, for example, the females of a number of bagworm butterflies are devoid of wings, outwardly similar to worms and almost do not move. Butterfly moth-skinned is also devoid of wings and moves exclusively with the help of its legs.

Other Lepidoptera, on the contrary, are excellent fliers. Such, for example, are hawkers. Their powerful rapid flight allows them to cover distances of hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of kilometers. Butterflies of burdock, admirals, cabbage, mourning butterflies are capable of overcoming long distances. Migrating butterflies fly both alone and in flocks. Species that make regular migrations usually follow a well-defined route, which often coincides with the direction of the migratory routes of birds. But in most species of butterflies, the whole life cycle takes place in the same areas.

The abdomen of butterflies is elongated, cylindrical in shape; in males it is thinner and sometimes somewhat flattened laterally. The abdomen consists of 9 segments, the latter being modified for sexual function.

The finest hearing is in moths. Without it, they would simply die. The fact is that the main enemies of these butterflies are bats. How a bat looks for insects in the air in complete darkness has long been known. Sending a quick series of ultrasounds inaudible to a person, she, as it were, feels the space. If the ultrasound emitted by the "transmitter" does not return back, is not received by the live "locator", the animal flies calmly. If the sound returns, it means that you have stumbled upon an obstacle. The bat is able to instantly determine what is ahead - a wall or a mosquito, a bird or a butterfly, and quickly rushes at everything edible. There seems to be no escape from the predator. But the reaction of moths is even faster. They pick up signals bat for 30 meters and either fall to the ground, or the butterfly begins to wind, rush from side to side and often escapes.

And where are the "ears" of butterflies? Scientists have found that in diurnal butterflies, the organs of hearing are on the front wings, and in night butterflies, between the chest and abdomen.

The frequency of sound is measured in conventional units - hertz. One hertz is an oscillation sound wave per second. A frequency of more than 20 thousand hertz is called ultrasound, less than 20 thousand hertz is called infrasound. People can hear sounds whose frequency is not lower than 20 and not higher than 20 thousand hertz. But some night butterflies are able to capture up to 250 thousand sound vibrations per second, that is, their hearing is 12 times thinner than that of a person.

Do butterflies have a heart? Yes, I have. Only not in the chest, but ... in the abdomen. And their blood is not red, but green. It does not contain hemoglobin, and it does not carry oxygen, as in humans, but delivers it to all insect cells nutrients, various hormones and enzymes.

To fly, the butterfly's muscles must be warmed up to at least 30 degrees. That is why you can so often see a butterfly, which, with its wings wide open, basks in the sun - it replenishes the spent energy.

The butterfly breathes through the thinnest tubes - tracheas, penetrating its entire body. They are connected to the outside world by two holes on the chest and sixteen on the abdomen.

Butterfly life cycle

Butterflies are insects with complete transformation, or holometamorphosis. Their life cycle includes four phases:

Larva (caterpillar);

chrysalis;

Adult insect (imago).

Egg

Butterfly eggs are covered with a dense hard shell and can be of various shapes. Depending on the genus and species, eggs can be round, cylindrical, spherical, ovoid, angular. Their outer surface can be embossed, forming depressions, dots, stripes, tubercles, arranged, as a rule, in a symmetrical manner. The coloration is most often white and greenish, less often brown, yellow, red, blue, dark green, sometimes with a color pattern. Females lay their eggs on leaves, stems or branches of food plants. Their number in the clutch depends on the species and can be more than 1000, but few survive to the adult stage. Depending on the species, eggs may be laid singly or in groups of 10 or more. Females can cover the eggs with hairs from a dense tuft at the end of the abdomen. Laid eggs can be covered with secretions from the accessory sex glands, which harden to form a protective shield (apple moth). Average duration egg stage 8-15 days. In many species temperate zone eggs laid in autumn are in a state of diapause in winter.

Butterfly egg. Photo: Gilles San Martin

Caterpillar

Caterpillars - butterfly larvae - are usually painted in green or brown tones, often covered with hairs, spikes. As a rule, they are worm-shaped with gnawing mouthparts. The physiological feature of caterpillars is the presence of a pair of altered salivary glands, opening a common channel on the lower lip and producing a special secret that quickly hardens in air, forming a silk thread. With these cobweb threads, the caterpillars fasten the leaves, weave cocoons from them, descend on them from the branches of trees, and make cobweb nests.

Butterfly caterpillar. Photo: Victor Korniyenko

They live on leaves, in stems and trunks of plants, in the soil, under the bark, some in the stems of aquatic plants under water or in anthills.

Most caterpillars are phytophages - they feed on leaves, flowers and fruits of plants. A number of species - keratophages - feed on wax, wool, horny substances (caterpillars of moths of the genus Ceratophaga live in the horns of African antelopes, feeding on keratin). Few species are xylophagous - glass and wood borers. Caterpillars of some species are predators, feeding on aphids, mealybugs, ant larvae and pupae. Caterpillars of some species are characterized by oligophagy - feeding on a very limited number of plant species. For example, polyxena caterpillars feed on only four species of plants of the genus Kirkazon.

The body of a caterpillar consists of 3 thoracic and 10 abdominal segments. The skin is smooth, with sparse warts, bristles or hairs, spines.

The thoracic segments bear 3 pairs of jointed legs, the abdominal segments usually have 5 pairs of thicker legs, with hooks on the soles, which help the caterpillar to stay on the substrate. In moths and some cutworms, the number of ventral legs decreases to 2-3 pairs, or they are reduced.

According to the way of life, caterpillars are conditionally divided into two large groups:

Caterpillars leading a free lifestyle, openly feeding on fodder plants;

Caterpillars leading a hidden lifestyle.

Caterpillars leading a hidden lifestyle live in portable cases, which they construct from a silky thread (pouch) or from pieces of leaves (a number of moths).

Caterpillars carry such a cover on themselves, hiding in it in case of danger. Other caterpillars build shelters from leaves, coiling and fastening them with silky thread, often forming a cigar-shaped tube. Caterpillars also lead a hidden lifestyle, living inside various parts of plants. This includes butterflies from the groups: miner moths, codling moths, as well as gall-forming species.

The body color of caterpillars is interconnected with their lifestyle. Caterpillars that lead an open lifestyle have a protective coloration, combined with a certain body shape, sometimes reminiscent of parts of plants. Along with the patronizing coloration, a bright demonstration coloration is common, indicating their inedibility. Some caterpillars, at the moment of danger, take a threatening posture, for example, a large harpy, a wine hawk.

chrysalis

Caterpillars at the end of their development turn into pupae. The pupae of different butterflies differ in size and color, but all are ovoid, with a pointed posterior end, and are inactive - only separate segments of the abdomen retain mobility, almost always refer to covered pupae. It is located openly on the plant, but more often it is located inside braided folded and glued leaves, or in the surface layer of the soil, on the stems and trunks of plants. The pupae do not feed and are considered the resting phase of development. Inside the pupa, complex changes occur associated with the restructuring and formation of the organs of the imago. These changes consist of two simultaneously occurring processes - histolysis and histogenesis. In families such as Saturnia, cocoon weavers, the pupa is located inside a special woven cocoon.

Butterfly pupae. Photo: Julia Folsom

The place and method of pupation are different in different families, genera, and partly species: on plants, in the soil, in many species, the pupae are enclosed in a cocoon woven by a caterpillar from hairs and cobwebs. Males almost always emerge from pupae before females.

In diurnal butterflies, the chrysalis is without a cocoon and hangs upside down (hanging) or tied upside down, as if belted (it is called that - belted). Moths, with the exception of hawks, pupate in cocoons.

Imago

An adult insect emerges from the pupa - an imago. This form is sexually mature, capable of reproduction. In the first minutes after leaving the chrysalis, the butterfly is not yet able to fly; she climbs to the heights, where she remains until the spreading of the wings, which occurs under the pressure of the hemolymph that fills the vessels of the wings. Spread wings harden and take on the final color.

Butterfly imago. Photo: Dave Dunford

The main function of this stage of the life cycle is reproduction and resettlement.

The lifespan of adults ranges from several hours to several months (in species falling into diapause winter) and averages 2-3 weeks. Different types of butterflies survive the winter in different phases of development. Some (for example, sea buckthorn moth, winter moth, silkworms, etc.) lay eggs for the winter and die. Eggs overwinter and in the spring give birth to a new generation. In other species - most cutworms and moths - pupae or caterpillars hibernate. And such species as mourning, urticaria, buckthorn, daytime peacock's eye, el-white multicolor, admiral and some types of scoop hibernate in the adult stage and in the spring, waking up, delight our eyes before other butterflies.

With the onset of cold weather, wintering butterflies clog under fallen leaves, under bark, in cracks in fences, cracks in tree bark, etc.

Most butterflies (imago) feed on the nectar of flowers, some - on the juice flowing from trees, often do not feed at all (aphagia). Many species of tapeworms are very fond of oak juice, the sour-tart smell of which attracts a lot of these butterflies from a long distance. The first spring butterflies - mourning, polyflora, urticaria, urticaria - drink melt water and birch sap. Poplar tapeworm and lilyworts like to visit fresh feces and even corpses.

Night and day butterflies

Many adult butterflies are active during the day and rest and sleep at night. These are diurnal butterflies. We have often admired blueberries, lemongrass, mourning, urticaria, peacock eye, hawks and many other beauties whose names are unknown to us. Other large group butterflies, called nocturnal, flies at dusk and at night, and hides in secluded places during the day. Strong, nimble, fluffy, furry, medium-sized or small creatures stand out among them, which unexpectedly fly into the light in the dark, ram light bulbs with noise, bounce off them, do not fly away home, but curl-beat against any surface, vibrating feverishly wings at breakneck speed. When trying to catch them, they slip away, leaving a myriad of scales in the form of gray dust on their hands. These are different owls. Night butterflies include: moths, corydalis, cocoon weavers, scoops, hawks, moths, bear moths and others.

Protection from predators

Methods of protection against predators are very diverse. A number of species have a bad smell and an unpleasant taste, or are poisonous, all this makes them inedible. Having tried such a butterfly once, predators will avoid a similar species in the future.

Poisonous and inedible species often have a warning bright color. Butterflies, deprived of such means of protection, often mimic inedible species, imitating not only the color, but also the shape of the wings. This type of mimicry is most developed in Lepidoptera, and is called "Batesian".

Some butterflies imitate wasps and bumblebees, for example glass cases, honeysuckle hawk moth, scabiosa bumblebee. This similarity is achieved due to the coloration, body contours and structure of the wings - they are almost devoid of scales and transparent, the hind wings are shorter than the front ones, and the scales on them are concentrated on the veins.

Many species have a protective coloration, they disguise themselves as dry leaves, twigs, pieces of bark. For example, a silver hole resembles a broken branch, an oak-leaved cocoon moth resembles a dry birch leaf.

Unlike butterflies active during daylight hours, species active at dusk or at night have a different protective coloration. The upper side of their forewings is colored in the colors of the substrate on which they sit at rest. At the same time, their front wings fold along the back like a flat triangle, covering the lower wings and abdomen.

One type of frightening coloration is the "eyes" on the wings. They are located on the front or hind wings and imitate the eyes of vertebrates. When at rest, butterflies with this coloration usually sit with their wings folded, and when disturbed, they spread their front wings and display frightening brightly colored lower wings. In some species, large and very bright dark eyes with a white outline, similar to the eyes of an owl, are clearly distinguished.

Moths for protection against bats have densely pubescent body hairs. The hairs help absorb and scatter the bats' ultrasonic signals, and thus mask the location of the butterfly. Many butterflies freeze when they detect a bat sonar signal. Bears are able to generate a series of clicks, which, according to some researchers, also prevent their detection.

The structure and behavior of butterflies

We often meet butterflies in nature and even at home. Wherever we are - in the forest, garden, fields and meadows, they attract our attention from early spring to late autumn. And who has not seen moths at home? It's also a butterfly. About 150,000 species of butterflies are known. They are combined into a detachment of butterflies, or Lepidoptera; they are easy to distinguish from other insects, such as flies.

What are the common features characteristic of the entire order of butterflies? First of all, this the presence of scales on their wings (hence the name of their unit). There are also scales all over their body. Scales are modified hairs. They are often differently colored. Of these, bizarre and complex patterns are formed on the wings of butterflies.

Another common feature butterflies have it sucking mouthparts, that is, non-segmented, at rest spirally curled, long tubular proboscis. The lower jaws and lower lip take part in its formation. Butterflies have no upper jaws. While eating, the butterfly spreads its long proboscis, plunging it deep into the flower, and sucks out the nectar. As the main source of food, adult Lepidoptera use nectar, therefore they are among the main pollinators of flowering plants.

Many adult butterflies are active during the day and rest at night. These are diurnal butterflies, for example lemongrass, cabbage, mourning. Another large group of butterflies flies at dusk and at night. These are nocturnal butterflies, such as moths.

Butterfly larvae, called caterpillars, have an elongated jointed body. Their oral apparatus, unlike adults, is gnawing. Caterpillars have silk glands in their mouths that secrete a secret that hardens in air into silk threads. Three pairs of segmented legs are located on their chest, but the larvae use them not for crawling, but for grabbing food while eating. To move the caterpillars use non-segmented fleshy abdominal false legs, unlike the jointed legs of adult insects and armed with small hooks on the soles. The vast majority of caterpillars feed on plant foods, but they are very diverse in their lifestyle. There are open-living caterpillars that live in the soil, leafworms, spinners, codling moths and others. Many of them are those that cause tangible damage. national economy. Take, for example, cabbage white, or cabbage.

Cabbage, as its name suggests, is related to cabbages and other cruciferous plants. Its caterpillars, feeding on cabbage leaves, damage them. This butterfly is called whitefish because of the powdery-white color of the upper side of the wings. The front pair of wings of the cabbage with dark corners on the upper side. The female has two more dark spots on the wings; the male does not have such spots.

Pattern: cabbage white or cabbage

In spring and summer, cabbage flies in gardens and fields. When a butterfly sits on a cabbage or other plant, it folds its wings behind its back and becomes invisible: the underside of the cabbage wings is greenish-yellow, giving the butterfly a resemblance to a leaf.

Cabbage lays eggs on cabbage leaves and other cultivated plants and weeds from the cruciferous family. Caterpillars emerge from the eggs. They are brightly colored: yellow when young, and as they grow they become bluish-green, with yellow and black rows of dots. At first, the caterpillars sit and feed on the underside of the leaves, then they move to their upper side, where they keep crowded. Their coloration is bright, warning that they are poisonous. Having tried once, the birds no longer touch them.

A grown caterpillar crawls onto a tree, fence or wall. Here she sheds her skin and turns into a chrysalis. The butterfly emerging from the chrysalis has crumpled soft wings. She sits in one place for several hours until her wings spread and get stronger.

Butterfly variety

Pattern: Variety of butterflies

1 - common swallowtail; 2 - dawn; 3 - mourning house; 4 - peat jaundice; 5 - forest pigeon, female; 6 - wood pigeon, male; 7 - Maak's swallowtail; B - admiral; 9 - daytime peacock eye; 10 - large mother-of-pearl; 11 - urticaria; 12 - flower satyr; 13 - wine hawk hawk; 14 - red nocturnal peacock eye; 15 - buckthorn, male; 16 - buckthorn, female; 17 - she-bear Kaya; 18 - poplar sash.

Lepidoptera are one of the largest orders of insects. According to various estimates, it includes from 90 to 200 families and more than 170 thousand species, of which approximately 4,500 species live in Europe. The fauna of Russia includes about 9000 species of Lepidoptera.

There is no single system for dividing a detachment into smaller groups. According to one of the classifications, 3 suborders are distinguished within the detachment - Jawed (Laciniata), Equal-winged (Jugata) and Different-winged (Frenata). The last suborder includes most species of butterflies. In addition, there is a conditional division of Lepidoptera into maceous (daytime) and different-whiskered (nightly) butterflies. Clubbous, or diurnal, butterflies have club-shaped antennae. Species that have pinnate, comb, filiform and other antennae are classified as different whiskers. Most species of butterflies fly at dusk and at night, but there are exceptions to this rule. For the taxonomy of butterflies great importance have wing venation and patterns on them.

Butterflies are characterized by the presence of two pairs of wings covered with modified hairs - scales ("pollen"). It is the diversity and beauty of the patterns on the wings of butterflies that makes these insects so noticeable and sympathetic to most people. The color of the wings of butterflies is determined by two types of color of the scales - the presence of pigment in them (pigment color) or the refraction of light on their surface (structural or optical color). Wing patterns can perform a variety of functions, including recognition of individuals of their own species, a protective function, and scaring off enemies. The color of the wings of males and females of the same species may be different (sexual dimorphism). The so-called androconial scales, which are found mainly in males, are usually located on the wings and have glandular cells that secrete an odorous secret. It is designed to recognize individuals of the opposite sex.

The wingspan of butterflies ranges from a few millimeters to 300 mm. The largest butterfly in the European part of Russia - pear saturnia Saturnia pyri - has a wingspan of up to 150 mm.

Another important hallmark representatives of the detachment is the structure of the oral apparatus. The original, gnawing mouth apparatus has been preserved only in some lower Lepidoptera. Most butterflies have a thin and long proboscis, a highly specialized sucking mouthpart formed from modified mandibles. In some species, the proboscis is underdeveloped or absent. Twisted at rest, the proboscis has a length determined by the structure of the flowers on which the butterfly feeds. With the help of a proboscis, butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers, but some species prefer the juice of overripe fruits or the sweetish juice flowing from damaged tree trunks. Need in minerals causes butterflies of some species to accumulate on the dirt, as well as on the excrement and carcasses of animals. Among butterflies, there are species that do not feed as adults.

Lepidoptera are insects with complete metamorphosis. The life cycle of a butterfly includes the stages of egg, larva, pupa and adult. As a rule, butterflies lay their eggs on or in close proximity to plants that the larvae will later feed on. The larvae, called caterpillars, have chewing mouthparts and almost all of them (with rare exceptions) feed on various parts plants. Butterfly caterpillars are characterized by the presence of three pairs of pectoral and up to five pairs of false abdominal legs. They are extremely diverse in size, color and body shape. caterpillars different types live singly or in groups, sometimes secretly, arranging spider nests, covers or shelters from leaves. Some caterpillars live inside the plants they eat - in the thickness of fruits, in leaves, in roots, etc. There are serious pests among butterfly caterpillars, but most species do not cause significant harm to plants. At the same time, at the adult stage, many species of butterflies are useful, since they are good pollinators.

Butterfly pupae are covered with a dense shell. Only lower forms Lepidoptera pupa is free or semi-free. This means that her limbs and other appendages lie freely on the surface of the body. Most butterflies have a covered pupa. In this case, the legs, antennae and other appendages are glued to the body with a solidified molting fluid. The color and shape of the pupae are very diverse. A feature of many species is the presence of a cocoon, which the caterpillar weaves immediately before pupation, using the secretions of silk-secreting, or spinning, glands.

The variety of butterflies is very large. This is one of the most interesting and visible groups of insects. Not only appearance, but also their way of life is of interest to both professionals and just nature lovers.

Butterflies are one of the most interesting groups of insects, not only from a biological point of view, but also in connection with their role in the history and culture of mankind. Associated with them are the ideas of beauty that have been formed among the most different peoples peace. Legends about them can be heard in all corners of our planet. Butterflies are the object of attention of artists and poets. This is one of the few groups of insects that causes most people more positive than negative emotions.

The practical role of Lepidoptera in the life of mankind is also very great. It is to butterflies that we owe the development of sericulture. Butterflies are the most important, and sometimes the only pollinators of plants, without which our life would be hard to imagine. The caterpillars of many species of butterflies are the most important source of protein not only for insectivorous birds and animals, but in some countries for humans as well.

And finally, their main value is that butterflies are one of the many amazing and unique living creatures that inhabit our planet.

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Lepidoptera is one of the most species-rich orders of insects.

The detachment conditionally includes four large groups:

1. Inferior butterflies,

2. Fire-shaped butterflies,

3. Diurnal, or mace butterflies,

4. Higher butterflies with different noses.

The last group is often called nocturnal, which is not entirely correct, since many of them lead a daytime lifestyle. Club-shaped antennae are characteristic of diurnal animals. Higher different-nosed butterflies, most of which are active at night, have filiform or feathery antennae. The mechanism for attaching the front and rear wings to the chest is different - mace butterflies able to fold their wings "behind their backs", while variegated butterflies leave the wings open flat or fold them in a “house”.

Dimensions butterflies of our world range widely from 2 millimeters (in small species of moths) to 32 centimeters (in the wingspan of some tropical species). The largest butterfly in the world is the South American scoop "tizania agrippa". However, its record long wings are relatively narrow, and therefore their surface is inferior to two other butterflies from New Guinea and nearby South Asian countries - the Hercules butterfly and the atlas. The surface of their wings is 300 square centimeters.

The largest diurnal butterfly in Russia - sailboat Maak, with a wingspan of up to 13.5 cm. And the largest nocturnal butterfly Europe and Russia is peacock-eye pear, with a wingspan of up to 15 cm.

How a butterfly works

The membranous wings are covered with small colored scales (hence the name Lepidoptera), which determine the originality of the color and pattern of insects. Many butterflies are brightly and brightly colored. The scales on the wings of butterflies are of great importance in the life of insects. They are necessary for flight, and their coloration is important for camouflage, for warning enemies (if the butterfly is inedible or poisonous), important for procreation (sometimes butterflies recognize or find each other by color). There are butterflies whose wings, by their very nature, are arranged in such a way that “windows” are left in them - transparent spots devoid of scales. Some, except for the very marginal zone, have wings without scales at all. They look like Hymenoptera.

There are three types of scales :

W Pigment, the color of which depends on the pigment grains in them;

W Optical- their color depends on the refraction of light;

W Odorous. Odorous scales are modified hairs and can be located not only on the wings, but also on the legs and abdomen of the butterfly. The substance that determines the smell of odorous scales is a pheromone and serves to attract individuals of the opposite sex. Fertilized females of most species of butterflies cease to secrete substances that attract males.

The smell of pheromones operates over very long distances. Another famous French entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915) noticed that male butterflies great nocturnal peacock eye arrive at the smell of a female located at a distance of 10-11 km!

Each type of butterfly has its own smell. Sometimes it is pleasant - some butterflies smell like vanilla, mignonette, strawberries, geraniums, chocolate. Cabbage males they smell like red geraniums, turnips smell like mignonette, rutabnitsa smell like lemon flowers. Some butterflies retain attractive scents even after they have been dissected for collections. One scientist who collected butterflies always carried a specimen of a tropical butterfly with him so that from time to time he could enjoy the smell of its odorous scales.

But the smells of odorous scales are also unpleasant. Some scales, for example, smell like mold. Sometimes the smell emitted by butterflies is pleasant to our sense of smell, but unpleasant to other animals. For example, females and males silkworm smell like muscle. It is believed that its smell, while attracting sexual partners, at the same time scares away the enemies of the butterfly.

It is possible that the male butterfly finds the female not only by smell, but also by catching infrared radiation emanating from her. Although butterflies are poikilothermic creatures, i.e. the temperature of their body as a whole depends on the ambient temperature; during the flight, with increased work of the muscles of the wing apparatus, the temperature of the butterflies rises. And sometimes very strongly - for example, some butterflies from the scoop family at an ambient temperature of -2 ° C can have a body temperature of up to +30 ° C.

Like all insects, the body of butterflies is divided into three main departments : head, thorax and abdomen. Outside, it is protected by a hard chitinous cover that forms the outer skeleton.

Head their eyes are sedentary, hypognathous, their eyes are large, round or oval, surrounded by hairs and occupy a significant part of the head. tendrils located on the parietal part of the head and are sensory organs that perceive odors and air vibrations. The antennae also help maintain balance when flying. . According to the structure, bristle-shaped, filiform, club-shaped, hooked, comb-shaped, pinnate types of antennae are distinguished.

The second main feature of butterflies is device of their oral apparatus . There are butterflies that do not have a mouth apparatus - such butterflies in their adult state (adults) do not eat anything and live on stocks accumulated by caterpillars. But most species have a sucking-type oral apparatus (soft and flexible proboscis). organs of taste at the butterfly - on the paws. And this “language” of hers is 2000 times more sensitive than that of a person. As soon as a butterfly touches delicious pollen or sweet juice with its paws, it immediately understands what's what, and its proboscis instantly unfolds. Its length depends on the depth of the calyx of the flower on which butterflies of a certain species feed. Sometimes the proboscises are very short, sometimes long, up to 35 centimeters, as, for example, in one of the species of the Madagascar hawk moth.

On the sides of the head are hemispherical, well developed, complex, faceted type, eyes , consisting of a large number (up to 27,000) ommatidian , giving the overall mosaic image. Lepidoptera are able to distinguish colors, but to what extent has not yet been studied enough. Some butterflies, for example, hives And cabbage butterfly, distinguish red, while satire they don't see him at all. Butterflies are most attracted to two colors - blue-violet and yellow-red. Butterflies can see ultra-violet rays that a person does not perceive, are sensitive to polarized light and are able to navigate through it in space. Butterflies, for example, it helps to quickly find the plants they need. Everything may seem uniformly green to us, but they capture shades invisible to people. Moving objects are much better than stationary ones.

In addition to two large compound eyes, some butterflies have two more dotted or simple eyes.

Breast, like all insects, it consists of three segments: prothorax, mesothorax and metathorax - bearing three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings. The chest is characterized by the maximum development of the middle segment, which bears the main load in the work of the wing apparatus. Metasternum has a subordinate meaning. Prothorax undergoes a noticeable reduction and is mostly membranous. The structure of the legs most butterflies are typical of insects, they are walking or running, and in most species they are well developed. In some diurnal butterflies, they are noticeably reduced, and the front pair of legs is modified. The coxae are large, their connection with the chest is inactive, the free part of the leg includes trochanter, thigh, tibia And paw (in most species, all tarsi are five-segmented with a pair of claws at the end).

Wings membranous, scaly, usually wide, rarely narrow, ribbon-like. In most species, the forewings are larger than the hindwings. Many species are brightly and brightly colored.

Wing shape in butterflies it is varied, but in the vast majority of species they are suitable for flight.

Usually butterflies in search of food, a sexual partner or a place to lay eggs move widely in space. But, for example, the females of a number of bagworm butterflies are devoid of wings, outwardly similar to worms and almost do not move. Butterfly moth-skinned also devoid of wings and moves exclusively with the help of legs.

Other Lepidoptera, on the contrary, are excellent fliers. Such, for example, are hawkers. Their powerful rapid flight allows them to cover distances of hundreds, and sometimes even thousands of kilometers. Capable of covering long distances butterflies burdock, admirals, cabbage, mourning. Migrating butterflies fly both alone and in flocks. Species that make regular migrations usually follow a well-defined route, which often coincides with the direction of the migratory routes of birds. But in most species of butterflies, the entire life cycle takes place in the same territories.

Abdomen in butterflies it is elongated, cylindrical in shape, in males it is thinner and sometimes somewhat flattened laterally. Abdomen consists of 9 segments, the latter being modified for sexual function.

The finest hearing - in night butterflies. Without it, they would simply die. The fact is that the main enemies of these butterflies are bats. How a bat searches for insects in the air in complete darkness has long been known. Sending a quick series of ultrasounds inaudible to a person, she, as it were, feels the space. If the ultrasound emitted by the "transmitter" does not return back, is not received by the live "locator", the animal flies calmly. If the sound returns, it means that you have stumbled upon an obstacle. The bat is able to instantly determine what is ahead - a wall or a mosquito, a bird or a butterfly, and quickly rushes at everything edible. There seems to be no escape from the predator. But the reaction of moths is even faster. They pick up the signals of a bat for 30 meters and either fall to the ground, or the butterfly begins to wind, rush from side to side and often escape.

Where are the butterflies "ears" ? Scientists have found that in diurnal butterflies hearing organs are located on the front wings, and at night -between chest and abdomen.

The frequency of sound is measured in conventional units - hertz. One hertz is the oscillation of a sound wave per second. A frequency of more than 20 thousand hertz is called ultrasound, less than 20 thousand hertz is called infrasound. People can hear sounds whose frequency is not lower than 20 and not higher than 20 thousand hertz. But some night butterflies are able to capture up to 250 thousand sound vibrations per second, that is, their hearing is 12 times thinner than that of a person.

Is there butterflies have a heart ? Yes, I have. Only not in the chest, but ... in the abdomen. And their blood is not red, but green. It does not contain hemoglobin, and it does not carry oxygen, as in humans, but delivers nutrients, various hormones and enzymes to all insect cells.

Butterfly breathes through the thinnest tubes - the trachea, penetrating her entire body. They are connected to the outside world by two holes on the chest and sixteen on the abdomen.