Butterflies

Butterflies are the diurnal insects and are easily identified due to its cheerful color and stunning shapes. Butterflies are best for pollination and has good artistic values. Butterflies, along with the moths and the skippers, make up the insect order Lepidoptera. Butterflies are nearly worldwide in their distribution.

The word "Lepidoptera" means "scaly wings" in Greek. The insects in this group their wings are covered with thousands of tiny scales overlapping in rows. The scales, which are arranged in colorful designs unique to each species, are what gives the butterfly its beauty.

There are about 17,500 species of butterflies in the world, and around 750 species in the United States. They are also the only group of insects whose wings are covered with scales, and one of their most distinctive features is their ability to coil or curl up their proboscis.

The wings, bodies, and legs, like those of moths, are covered with dustlike scales that come off when the animal is handled. Unlike moths, butterflies are active during the day and are usually brightly colored or strikingly patterned.

Butterflies are commonly associated with plants, and the relationship is sometimes complex. Most butterfly caterpillars eat one, or sometimes several, related species of plants. Usually, the choice is made by the adult female when depositing eggs.

A butterfly undergoes a process called complete metamorphosis during its life cycle. This means that the butterfly changes completely from its early larval stage, when it is a caterpillar, until the final stage, when it becomes a beautiful and graceful adult butterfly.
Butterflies