Butterfly

Numbers of species.Due to their bright colors and visits to flowers, butterflies are the most familiar of insects to humans. There are about 17,500 species of butterflies in the world, and around 750 species in the United States. Distinctive characteristics.Butterflies (and moths) are the only group of insects that have scales covering their wings, although some butterflies have reduced scales. They differ from other insects also by their ability to coil up their proboscis. Immatures.Caterpillars are the names given to the larvae of both butterflies and moths. They are usually very distinctive, and in some cases may be identified more easily than the adults. When they are developing, their skin may be shed four or more times, with each molt often changing the coloration and appearance of the caterpillar. They eat voraciously to transform plant material into tissues that they will need for metamorphosis. Plant associations.Butterflies are commonly associated with plants, and the relationship is sometimes complex. Immatures, with few exceptions, eat plants, and therefore may be considered harmful to the plants. However, butterflies are very important to many plants that are dependent upon flower-visiting insects for cross-pollination. Most butterfly caterpillars eat one, or sometimes several, related species of plants. Usually the choice is made by the adult female when depositing eggs. Adults usually feed on nectar from flowers of plants, although many butterflies feed inst...

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Know about monarch butterflies and their long annual migration from North America's Great Lakes to Mexico In North America themigratory monarch butterfly( D. plexippus plexippus) is a well-known example of a wide-range migrant with anextensivebreeding range. Thousands of these monarchs gather in autumn and migrate southward, sometimes traveling about 3,000 km (1,800 miles) to overwinter on the Scientists’ ability to determine the monarch’s population status has been challenged by difficulties in monitoring populations accurately and by a limited knowledge of naturally occurring annual and geographical population fluctuations. Indeed, estimates of their decline between 2010 and 2020 range from 22 to 72 percent. However, given the D. plexippus plexippus) was listed as an This article was most recently revised and updated by

Ready for the lowdown on one of nature’s most beautiful insects? Then check out our butterfly life cycle facts! We all love butterflies for their beautiful, brightly-coloured wings. But did you know that these fab flyers begin life as something completely different? As they grow, they undergo one seriously terrific transformation – a process known as “ metamorphosis“. Join Nat Geo Kidsas we follow the life-cycle of this quirky creature, from the egg to the air! Stage 1: the egg It all starts when a female butterfly lays her eggs, usually on leaves or stems of plants. Inside these tiny eggs, caterpillars grow. Depending on the species, the eggs can vary in shape and texture – they can be round, oval or cylindrical, and smooth, bumpy or wrinkled. The time it takes for the eggs to hatch can also vary – in some species, they will hatch within a few weeks and in others they will only hatch once the weather is warm enough. Love animals? You’d love our magazine! Ask your parents to check out Nat Geo Kids magazine! (AD) Stage 2: the caterpillar Once ready, the caterpillar leaves its egg home and enters the big outside world! And these little critters have one serious appetite – they actually eat their way out of the egg and immediately start chomping on the leaves of the host plant. During this stage, they shed their skin four or five times – as the caterpillar grows, its skin becomes too tight and splits open, revealing a new, larger skin underneath. A fully grown caterpillar c...

[MUSIC] [The American Museum of Natural History logo appears, with animated butterflies flying all around it.] NARRATOR: How do you make a butterfly? [Text appears: How do you make a butterfly? A pattern of leaves slides onto the screen.] [RUSTLING] NARRATOR: First, a butterfly lays an egg on a plant. [A butterfly lands on the leaves and then flies away, leaving an egg behind. Text appears at the top of the screen: “1. Lay an egg.”] NARRATOR: A caterpillar hatches out of it, and gets busy eating. [Text at the top of the screen changes to “2. Hatch.” A tiny caterpillar munches its way out of the egg [CRUNCHING SOUND] and starts crawling along the leaves. Behind it, holes appear in the leaves. Text at the top of the screen changes to “3. Eat, molt, repeat.”] NARRATOR: As it eats, it grows and molts out of its skin to get even bigger, [The caterpillar grows and then its skin slides off it, revealing a more brightly colored caterpillar beneath it. More holes appear in the leaves behind it.] NARRATOR: And repeats this until it is a fully-grown caterpillar. [The caterpillar sheds its skin a second time, and it is now much much larger than when it hatched out of the egg.] NARRATOR: It attaches itself to a plant- [The caterpillar crawls along a branch and then flips to hang from the underside of the branch from its back end.] NARRATOR: and sheds its skin one last time to reveal its chrysalis. [The caterpillar sheds its skin again and reveals an oblong green chrysalis beneath. Text...