All About Butterflies

Butterflies are one of the most beautiful creations of God. With colorful wings, they flutter here and there. The beautifully designed wings unfolding at each swing, look amazingly ethereal. Butterflies are so attractive that today butterfly tattoos are highly adored by the female folk. I'm sure you must be interested to know all about butterflies, right from their initial stage of development to gradual transformation into a beautiful butterfly. Interesting? Yes! The next segment shall let you know some interesting facts about butterflies.

Information About Butterflies

Butterflies are usually diurnal insects that belong to the class Insecta and order Lepidoptera. Their body is covered by sensory hair and they possess four wings and six joined legs. Their eyes are known to be compound and a pair of antenna is attached at the top of their head. The exoskeleton of butterflies has three parts namely head, thorax and abdomen. Butterflies are classified under three categories. They are:

• True Butterflies: Superfamily Papilionoidea
• Skippers: Superfamily Hesperioidea
• Moth Butterflies: Superfamily Hedyloidea

Life Cycle of Butterfly
The life cycle of butterfly is divided into four stages. Each stage lasts for a particular duration helping in development of adult. Butterflies usually have one or more broods per year, which is dependent on the type of species, geographical location and climatic conditions.

• Egg: This is the first stage of butterfly metamorphosis, lasting for few weeks. They usually lay eggs over leaves. The eggs have a covering known as chorion.
• Larva: The caterpillar or larva hatches from eggs. The larva consumes plant leaves. They gradually mature to instars and at the end of this phase, they periodically shed their outer cuticle, expanding a new cuticle. Development of small wings and colorful pigment takes place during the phase of metamorphosis..
• Pupa: At pupal stage, the larva is fully grown and it anchors itself to a substrate for the final stage of molting. The pupa is also known as chrysalis. The hormone prothoracicotropic (PTTH) helps the developmental process. Their wings grow and become capable of supporting flight.
• Adult: The final stage is also known as imago. The pupa matures sexually and the complete anatomy of an adult butterfly is formed. All the body parts can be clearly classified in adult stage.

Characteristic Features of Butterfly
Butterflies possess three interesting features. They exhibit polymorphism, mimicry and aposematism. Take a quick look at these subtle features:

• Polymorphism: Butterflies can change their appearances which mainly takes place due to geographical shift or seasonal variance.
• Mimicry: Butterflies have the ability to mimic other species, presumably to reduce sampling by predators. For example: The Common Rose mimics The Crimson Rose while Batesian mimics Mullerian.
• Aposematism: Some species of butterflies can generate an 'advertising signal', also known as warning signal meant for anti-predator adaptation. The warning signal is usually depicted by change in color, sound, perception and odor.

Interesting Facts about Butterflies

Was that all about butterflies? No. Here are some interesting facts about butterflies that kids will enjoy after learning.

• There are more than 17,00 species of butterflies existing on earth.
• Butterflies can distinguish between red green and yellow color.
• Their size ranges from 1/25th inch to 10 inches.
• Butterflies are capable of flying only if their body temperature is 86°C or more.
• Few species of butterflies have long pupal stage and the entire developmental stage lasts for more than 7 years.
• The longest life span is of Brimstone butterfly. It lasts for 9-10 months.
• The most amazing fact is that, sometimes they drink too much nectar from flower and if the juice is rotten it becomes alcoholic and they become too drunk to fly.
• A Monarch butterfly is that they can fly up to 10,000 feet and are capable of traveling 20 mph.
• The wing doesn't grow back if torn or ripped off.
• Female butterflies have longer life span than males.

Butterflies are amazingly gorgeous and if you know how to attract butterflies, you can easily rear them at home with proper care.