10 Fascinating Facts About Butterflies
“...1. There are more than 17,500 recorded butterfly species around the world...
2. Butterflies & moths are part of the class of insects in the order Lepidoptera... they have 6 jointed legs & 3 body parts: the head, the thorax, & the abdomen. The wings are attached to the thorax, & they also have a pair of antennae, compound eyes, & an exoskeleton.
3. The Cabbage White... is the most common butterfly in the U.S.... These butterflies have a wing spread of just about 2 inches. Males have only one spot on each wing, while females have 2...
4. Monarch Butterflies migrate to get away from the cold... The iconic North American Monarch has been greatly affected by extreme weather events, going through drastic dips & spikes in numbers over the past several decades...
5. Monarchs are not the only butterfly to migrate. The Painted Lady, American Lady, Red Admiral, Cloudless Sulphur, Skipper, Sachem, Question Mark, Clouded Skipper, Fiery Skipper, & Mourning Cloak are among the other butterflies that also migrate...
6. The Common Buckeye Butterfly...with its bold multicolored eyespots & thick upper-wing bars, all designed to frighten away any birds that might be tempted to chomp on them...
7. The Orange Barred Sulphur Butterfly is...very distinctive, being bright yellow with patches of orange marking both forewings & hindwings...
8. ...The butterfly starts its life as an egg...The caterpillar (larva) hatches from the egg & eats leaves or flowers. It loses its skin many times as it grows, increasing greatly in size. Eventually it turns into a pupa, or chrysalis, & finally a beautiful adult butterfly emerges, & the cycle continues.
9. An adult butterfly has a very short life... the entire life cycle of a butterfly can range between 2 & 8 months...
10. The Giant Swallowtail Butterfly... with a wing spread of 4-7 in...These butterflies are called “swallow” because they have long tails on their hind wings that resemble the long, pointed tails of the birds known as swallows...”
Judy Molland
June 20/2016
care2.com
Cute Critter Pic
Weekly Chuckle
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