Butterflies are well-known insects that attract especially great attention, since many species are large in size, bright, beautiful in color and are often found in forests, gardens, meadows and glades. There are 8,000 species of butterflies in the CIS.

The scientific name of the order - Lepidoptera - is based on the most important feature of these insects: the large wings of butterflies are covered with tiny scales. These scales are brightly colored, arranged on the wings in a strict order and form a wing pattern. From this picture it is easy to determine the type of butterfly. Under the scales, the wings of all butterflies are the same: they are a transparent or whitish thin plate, reinforced with a kind of skeleton, consisting of thicker, darker and more elastic veins. The veins form a pattern of cells. Different groups of butterflies differ well in the length and direction of the veins and in the shape of the cells. These signs are used in more complete determinants.

Another important feature of butterflies is the development of the so-called proboscis in many species. This is a thin long tube that arose from the mouth organs, with the help of which butterflies feed on the nectar of flowers, and some - on the flowing tree sap. The proboscis of most species is spirally twisted. Those butterflies that do not feed do not have a proboscis.

Butterfly antennae are very diverse. A large group of butterflies have thin, long antennae with a club-shaped extension at the very end. These butterflies are diurnal and are called mace or diurnal butterflies.

Another group of butterflies leads a twilight and nocturnal lifestyle. They are called night butterflies. The structure of the antennae of moths is very diverse, most species have filiform or feathery antennae. In males, the antennae often have a more complex structure than in females.

Diurnal butterflies fly slowly, flutter, while nocturnal species often have a very fast flight.

Butterflies have large bulging eyes on their heads. The thoracic region of these insects is very well developed - it contains strong flying muscles. The abdomen is elongated, in females it is often very thick, as it contains a large number of eggs. Butterflies have 3 pairs of well-developed legs, however, in some species, the front legs are shortened.

Butterflies in nature are found throughout the warm season. Overwintered specimens begin to fly in early spring. From eggs laid by females in late autumn, young caterpillars appear in spring.

Butterfly larvae are called caterpillars. The fleshy body of caterpillars is naked or covered with hair. The head is large, with gnawing mouthparts. Caterpillars are remarkable in that, in addition to short chest legs, they also have tenacious ventral legs. These legs are unusual, they are muscular outgrowths of the body, equipped with a tenacious, hooked sole. The ventral legs of caterpillars are called false legs to emphasize their difference from the true, pectoral legs. However, it is the ventral legs that are adapted for climbing plants, on which the caterpillars of most species of butterflies develop.

Caterpillars are herbivorous, only a few prey or eat grain, wax, wool or woolen products (for example, some moths). Having reached maturity, caterpillars for pupation weave a cocoon or pupate without a cocoon - under the bark, in various shelters, in the upper layers of the soil or openly on plants, fences, building walls, etc. Butterflies usually emerge from pupae in 2-3 weeks.

The importance of butterflies in nature, agriculture and forestry is very high. Some types of butterflies are able to reproduce in huge numbers. During these periods, they destroy the foliage and needles of trees, damaging tens and hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest, damaging horticulture, especially fruit trees, destroying the results of the work of vegetable growers, attacking cabbage and root crops, etc. There are useful species among butterflies. They are bred, for example, in order to obtain silk from cocoons.

Butterflies are representatives of the order Lepidoptera of the class Insects of the Arthropod type.

Butterflies as arthropods

As representatives of this type of butterfly have:

  • segmented body;
  • paired jointed limbs;
  • chitin cover.

A cover of chitin protects their body and serves as a support for the organs. A segmented body and legs allow you to move with such cover.

Butterflies like insects

Insects differ from other arthropods in the following ways:

  • the body consists of 3 sections (head, chest, abdomen);
  • have three pairs of legs;
  • have two pairs of wings.

On the head of butterflies are antennae - the organs of smell, compound eyes, palps - the organs of touch.

The chest consists of three large segments, each of them has a pair of legs, and the first and second have a pair of wings.

The abdomen is also made up of segments, and on each of them there are a pair of respiratory openings - spiracles.

Butterflies like Lepidoptera

This is a special order of insects, which includes more than 150 thousand species. They differ from other insects in a number of distinctive features:

  1. They have two pairs of large wings covered with scales. It is the scales that provide a variety of colors of these insects.
  2. Butterflies feed on liquid food, mainly nectar. Therefore, they have a sucking oral apparatus in the form of a proboscis.
  3. Their development with complete transformation: egg - larva - pupa - imago.
  4. Butterfly larvae are caterpillars
  5. Caterpillars have gnawing mouthparts and no wings.

Butterflies are diurnal (swallowtail, admiral, urticaria) and nocturnal (hawk moth, bear). They differ in physique - daytime ones are more slender; type of antennae: in daytime they are club-shaped, in nighttime they are pinnate; wings folding: diurnal ones fold them in a vertical position, and night ones - in a horizontal position.

The largest wings in a span of up to 30 cm are possessed by tropical butterflies of the birdwing Alexander and the peacock-eye Atlas, which is called the King of Darkness for its nocturnal lifestyle.

In South America, a small butterfly lives, which is called glass. The middle of her wings is absolutely transparent.

One of the smallest diurnal butterflies is our compatriot, the pigeon Icarus. Her wings are no more than 1 cm.

Butterflies are airy, weightless creatures familiar to many of us. Beautiful or not, they are all living proof of the amazingness of nature. Born as caterpillars, they acquire wings and fly away, only to leave their offspring again in the form of caterpillars. Butterflies are amazing, and the variety of their species can amaze anyone.

  1. The smallest butterfly, acetosia, has a wingspan of only about 2 millimeters. At the largest, tizania agrippina - up to 28 centimeters.
  2. Butterflies, like elephants, feed on their trunks. More precisely, the proboscis (see).
  3. In total, there are about 165 thousand species of butterflies and moths in the world. Yes, yes, thousands! Moreover, most of them prefer to lead a nocturnal lifestyle.
  4. Moth hawks, nocturnal moths, know how to howl in a wolf manner. This howling buzz imitates that of the queen bee, which allows the hawk hawk to easily get into the bee hive and feast on honey, which makes up a fair share of its diet.
  5. Butterflies are found on all continents except Antarctica (see).
  6. Butterfly eyes are made up of more than a thousand faceted elements each.
  7. The receptors responsible for taste are located on the paws of butterflies.
  8. Some types of butterflies during their life, very short, lay more than a thousand eggs, from which caterpillars then hatch.
  9. Butterflies willingly feed on many other species, such as birds and chameleons (see).
  10. The northernmost of the butterflies live less than a thousand kilometers from the North Pole, on Canada's Queen Elizabeth Island.
  11. In China, India and some countries of South America, the population does not hesitate to eat butterflies.
  12. Some species of butterflies can reach speeds of over 60 km / h during the flight, covering a distance equal to twenty to thirty thousand lengths of their own body in a minute of flight.
  13. Most butterflies are afraid of water, but, for example, the lilac moth can easily emerge if it accidentally falls into the water, shake itself off and fly further.
  14. Monarch butterflies understand medicinal plants and know how to use them for medical purposes if their offspring need help.
  15. Butterflies do not have such an organ as the heart.
  16. Butterflies distinguish only three colors - red, yellow and green.
  17. There are also vampire butterflies that feed in the same way as mosquitoes do - calyptra eustrigata. However, only males feed on blood, while females prefer plant foods.
  18. The skeleton of a butterfly, more precisely, the exoskeleton, is not inside its body, but outside. All internal organs are inside it.
  19. Butterfly cabbage is very prolific. If all the offspring of at least one cabbage survived, so many of its descendants would be born in a season that they would weigh three times more than all the people on Earth combined.
  20. In China, butterflies are considered a symbol of love and lovers.

Butterflies are one of the most beautiful creatures. They are associated with spring, beauty, youth. They are a symbol of immortality, happiness, fidelity, love. These mysterious and graceful creatures are a source of poetic inspiration and have become the heroes of many myths and legends. But what do we know about them?


The pollen on the wings of butterflies has nothing to do with the pollen of plants, from the flowers of which, as many believe, butterflies collect their bright colors. These are small scales that cover the entire body and wings of an insect. It was they who gave the scientific name to butterflies - Lepidoptera - one of the largest orders in the class of insects.

Scales are derivatives of hairs, which consist of a transparent chitinous shell with a cavity inside, have a flat, often very diverse, shape and are pressed against the surface of the wing, overlapping each other like tiles.

Wing coloring


The cavity contains a pigment that gives color to the entire scale. And the combination of scales with the same or different pigments makes up a bright, often very complex and contrasting wing pattern. The color of the wings can be created not only due to pigments. In many of our diurnal butterflies, as well as in the brightest representatives of the tropics, it occurs due to the interference of light waves. On the surface of the flake there are very small ribs that, at a certain angle of incidence, reflect light with a certain wavelength.

Butterfly belongs to the class Insects, phylum Arthropoda, order Lepidoptera (Lepidóptera).

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 shapes and colors.

Butterfly wings - macro photography

The appearance and color of the butterfly's wings serve not only for intraspecific sexual recognition, but also act as a protective camouflage that allows you to blend in with the environment. 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 ranging from 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 winged ( Micropteryx calthella);
  • marigold smallwing ( 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 ( Asopia farinalis L..),
  • fir cone moth ( 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. The appearance and size of the representatives of this suborder is 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 of various shapes, clearly visible on 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, a characteristic feature of 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 ;
    2. Butterfly diurnal peacock eye;
    3. Butterfly urticaria;
    4. Butterfly mourning, etc.

Butterfly Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Butterfly diurnal peacock eye

Butterfly urticaria (Aglais urticae)

There are species of butterflies that do not have a mouth apparatus: to maintain their vital activity, they consume those reserves of nutrients that were accumulated in the stage.

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).

Butterfly breeding stages. The transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly

Most butterflies have complex forms of courtship during the mating season, expressed in flights and dances. The mating process, during which the female receives from the male, in addition to spermatozoa, a supply of essential trace elements and proteins, sometimes drags on for several hours.

Caterpillar turns into a butterfly

The life cycle of a butterfly consists of 4 phases (stages):

  • Eggs

The life of a butterfly begins with an egg. Depending on the species and genus, the butterfly lays its eggs on the leaves or branches of plants. It can be up to 1000 fertilized eggs that are round, cylindrical or egg-shaped. The color of eggs can be white, greenish, yellow, red, sometimes with a pattern. This stage of the life of a butterfly lasts within 8-15 days.

butterfly eggs

  • Caterpillar (larva)

At this stage, the insect has a worm-like shape. The mouthparts of caterpillars are of the gnawing type. A feature of the caterpillar is the presence of special glands in it, which produce a substance that quickly hardens on contact with air and forms a semblance of a strong silk thread. Butterfly caterpillars feed mainly on plant foods: fruits, flowers and leaves of plants. However, there are caterpillars whose diet consists of wool, horny substances and even wax.

Caterpillar

  • chrysalis

Depending on the species, the pupa may have an elongated cylindrical or even round shape. A monochromatic cocoon sometimes has a pattern formed by stripes, dots and spots. At this stage of development, the butterfly already has wings, proboscis and legs in its infancy.

  • Imago (adult, butterfly)

Depending on the species, the lifespan of a butterfly can range from a few hours to 10 months. Imago is already capable of reproduction and dispersal, which are its main function.

What do butterflies do in winter?

It is noteworthy that butterflies winter in different ways. There are species of butterflies that, having left the chrysalis, live only during the summer, and die with the onset of cold weather. Some survive the winter as an egg, but most do so as a chrysalis. There are species that meet the cold already as adult insects and hide from them in tree hollows or deep cracks in the bark. These are urticaria, burdock and lemongrass.

Butterfly Lemongrass (buckthorn)

But there are also exceptions to the rule.

Some representatives of Lepidoptera prefer to leave their habitats without waiting for the onset of adverse conditions. They just fly to warmer climes. The most famous "travelers" are the oleander hawk moth and the monarch.

The benefits and harms of butterflies

It is noteworthy that butterflies bring both great benefits and harm to agriculture. In the caterpillar stage, they destroy leaves on fruit trees, which leads to crop loss. At the same time, adult butterflies help cross-pollination and self-pollination of plants. Both caterpillars and adults serve as food for many birds. And there is no need to talk about the benefits of the silkworm - it is a manufacturer of natural silk.

  • In the Saturnium butterfly, the caterpillar is so poisonous that the toxins it releases can kill a person.
  • The migratory monarch butterfly is able to cover up to 1000 km in one flight without stopping to rest.
  • Butterflies don't sleep at night because they don't need to sleep.
  • During a flight over short distances, hawk moths can reach speeds of up to 60 km / h.
  • The baby moth is the smallest butterfly with a wing size of 2 mm.
  • Madagascar hawks have the longest proboscis, which is 28 cm long.
  • The size of the wings of the butterfly Tisania agrippina reaches 31 cm.
  • The sense of smell of the peacock-eye butterfly is very developed: it smells at a distance of 10 km.