The insects fact box
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1) butterfly facts
2) moth facts
3) insect facts
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The word butterfly came from the English word Buttorfleoge. Perhaps because, in mediaeval times, butterflies could be seen hovering around butterchurns or that their excrement is yellowish in colour.
Butterflies are the second largest group of pollinators.....next to bees.
The larvae of some of the some Blues, Coppers and Hairstreak butterflies produce a sugary excretion that is consumed by ants that in turn protect the larvae from predators.
Butterflies make up 20 percent of the order lepidoptera.
Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches.
Butterflies can only see red, green, and yellow.
The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per hour. Some moths can fly 25 miles per hour!
Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees F .
There are about 24,000 species of butterflies. The moths are even more numerous: about 140,000 species of them were counted all over the world.
The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepterix rhamni) has the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies: 9-10 months.
Many butterflies can taste with their feet to find out whether the leaf they sit on is good to lay eggs on to be their caterpillars’ food or not.
The largest threat to butterflies is loss of habitat.
Since butterflies are cold blooded it is necessary for them to warm up their flight muscles. This is done by basking in the sun in order to absorb heat.
Butterflies smell with their antennae.
The Painted Lady is the most wide spread butterfly species in the world. Occurring on all continents accept South American and Antarctica.
When it rains butterflies find shelter in crevasses, in dense undergrowth and tree cavities.
Butterflies breath through openings in their abdomen called "spiracles" they don't have lungs ither.
If the scales are removed from a butterfly's wing what is left is a transparent membrane.
Male Monarchs never make the return journey the following spring.
Monarchs have been known to migrate over 3000km.
Monarchs can fly a 1000km without stopping.
Monarchs can attain an altitude of a kilometer or more during migration.
Caterpillars shed their skin to accommodate growth.....just like snakes have to.
overwintering species of larvae avoid freezing by producing glycerol.....a kind of antifreeze.
Some larvae communicate with ants by producing sounds.
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Moths make up 80 percent of the order lepidoptera.
Many females of the Tussock family of moths don't have wings
The Hawk moth (Sphinx) is the worlds fastest flying insect attaining speed of over 50 kph
Moth antennae are either feather like or a hair like filament.
Moths have hairy bodies to help retain internal body temperature necessary for flight
Quite a few moths fly during the day, such as the Hummingbird Clearwing, Virginia Ctenucha, silver y and the Spear-Marked Black
In colder climates some moths can have a two year life cycle.
Some moth caterpillars are covered with stinging hairs.
A small group of moths are called "Bird Dropping" moths because -you guessed it- that's what they resemble when they are at rest.
Moths navigate by two methods. They use the moon and stars when available and geomagnetic clues when light sources are obscured.
Some moths pupate under ground. Such as many of the Sphinx moths.
Moths heat up their flight muscles by vibrating their wings, since they don't have the radiant energy of the sun at their disposal to serve that purpose.
Hummingbird moths wings beat 70 times per second.
Pellet like caterpillar excrement is called "Frass".
The smallest moths called "micros" have a wingspans of 3 or 4 millimeters.
Male moths have larger antennae than females. Beneficial for detecting the pheromones released by females.
Pheromones can be dispersed through the tibia segment of the leg, scales on the wings or from the abdomen.
Moths are capable of migration but they do so over much smaller distances.
Moths are active at different times of the night depending on species.
The Clearwing family of moths resemble other flying insects like hornets and wasps
Moths can produce as many as 10 broods per year.
Feeding caterpillars can be in such large and concentrated numbers that you can actually hear them eat.
Pheromones released by females can be detected by the males from as much as 8 kilometers away.
The Morgan’s Sphinx Moth from Madagascar has a proboscis (tube mouth) that is 12 to 14 inches long to get the nectar from the bottom of a 12 inch deep orchid discovered by Charles Darwin.
Some moths never eat anything as adults because they don’t have mouths. They must live on the energy they stored as caterpillars.
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Many insects can carry 50 times their own body weight. This would be like an adult person lifting two heavy cars full of people.
There are over a million described species of insects. Some people estimate there are actually between 15 and 30 million species.
Most insects are beneficial to people because they eat other insects, pollinate crops, are food for other animals, make products we use (like honey and silk) or have medical uses.a
ll insects (butterflies and moths too) have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies, called the exoskeleton. This protects the insect and keeps water inside their bodies so they don’t dry out.
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