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14 - Butterflies and moths

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2015

Norman Maclean
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
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Summary

To many people these insects are like two sides of a coin – butterflies are gay and bright, creatures of sunny days with elegant flight, while moths elicit thoughts of clothes moths and large, clumsy brown insects that blunder into our lighted homes at night. Both of these groups of insects belong to the same order of insects called Lepidoptera, literally ‘scaly winged’, since the patterns on their wings are the result of a covering of tiny scales which easily brush off on our fingers if we handle the insects. Many moths are far from conforming to the drab popular image, and indeed some brightly coloured ones such as scarlet tigers, cinnabar and burnet moths fly preferentially by day.

The two groups are in general easily distinguished, since all butterflies fly by day and most moths at night. Butterflies also fold their wings in an upright formation when at rest (except skipper butterflies), whereas most moths fold them down over the body like a low tent. One little detail which is a fairly reliable diagnostic feature is that butterflies have clubs at the end of their antennae while most moths do not. A further difference that is hard to see is that moths have fore and hind wings linked by a hook, but this does not occur in butterflies.

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Chapter
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A Less Green and Pleasant Land
Our Threatened Wildlife
, pp. 206 - 230
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

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