Butterfly

Butterflies Temporal range: Palaeocene–present ~60 mya {see text}
Papilio machaon
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Suborder:	Rhopalocera
Subgroups
Superfamily Hedyloidea: Hedylidae Superfamily Papilionoidea: Hesperiidae Lycaenidae Nymphalidae Papilionidae Pieridae Riodinidae

A butterfly is a (usually) day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera. They are grouped together in the suborder Rhopalocera. Butterflies are related to moths, from which they evolved about 56 million years ago.^[1] The earliest discovered fossil moth was 200 million years ago.^[2]

The life of butterflies is closely connected to flowering plants. Their larvae (caterpillars) feed on plants, and their adults feed on flowers. They lay their eggs on the plants their caterpillars feed on. Butterflies have a long history of co-evolution with flowering plants. Many of the details of plant anatomy are related to their pollinators, and vice versa.^[3] The other notable features of butterflies are their extraordinary range of colours and patterns, and their wings. These are discussed below.

Angiosperms (flowering plants) evolved in the Lower Cretaceous, but did not become common until the Upper Cretaceous. Butterflies were the last major group of insects to appear on the planet.^[1] They evolved from moths in the latest Cretaceous or the earliest Cainozoic. The earliest known butterfly fossils date to the mid Eocene epoch, between 40 and 50 million years ago.^[4]

Like moths, butterflies have four wings covered with tiny scales. The front and back wings are usually zipped together, so that the insect looks as if it has only two wings. When a butterfly is not flying, its wings are usually folded over its back. The wings are patterned and are often brightly coloured. There are many different kinds of butterflies. The males and females of each kind are often slightly different from each other. Butterfly watching is a popular hobby. Some people also keep collections of dead butterflies that they have caught, but they find out that the colour fades.

Like all insects with complete metamorphosis, a butterfly's life goes through four distinct stages. It begins as an egg, which hatches into a larva (a caterpillar). After some time, the larva turns into a chrysalis. While it is in the chrysalis stage, it changes to become an adult butterfly. These changes are only beginning to be understood. To complete the cycle, adults mate and the females lay eggs.

Butterflies are any of the species belonging to the superfamilies Papilionoidea and Hedyloidea. Butterflies, along with the moths and the skippers, make up the insect order Lepidoptera. Butterflies are nearly worldwide in their distribution.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Grimaldi D. and Engel M.S. 2005. Evolution of the insects. Cambridge University Press, p590–606. ISBN 0-521-82149-5
2. ↑ Briggs, Helen. Meet the butterflies from 200 million years ago. BBC Science & Environment. [1] Archived 2019-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
3. ↑ 95% of flowering plants in tropical lowlands rely on animals for pollination or dispersal of seeds. Thomson, John N. 1994. The coevolutionary process. University of Chicago Press, p7. ISBN 0-226-79760-0
4. ↑ Hall J.P.W; Robbins R.K. & Harvey D.J. (2004). "Extinction and biogeography in the Caribbean: new evidence from a fossil riodinid butterfly in Dominican amber". Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 271 (1541): 797–801. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2691. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 1691661. PMID 15255097.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)