butterflies-featured

Most Beautiful Species of Butterfly

Scientific classification of butterfly:
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Insecta
Order Lepidoptera
Family Lycaenidae
Genus Polyommatus
Species Polyommatus icarus

Butterflies are the adult flying creatures of particular insects belonging to an order or group called Lepidoptera. Moths also come from this group. The word “Lepidoptera” indicates “scaly wings” in Greek. This name perfectly suits the insects in this group due to the fact that their wings are covered with thousands of small scales overlapping in rows. The scales, which are organized in colorful designs unique to each species, are what provide the butterfly its charm and beauty.

Like all other insects, butterflies have six legs and three main body parts: head, thorax (chest), and abdomen (tail end). They likewise have two antennae and an exoskeleton.

Butterflies have a typical four-stage insect life cycle. Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars, will feed. The caterpillars grow, often really quickly, and when totally established, pupate in a chrysalis. When metamorphosis (the process of changing form hence growing from a caterpillar to adult) is complete, the pupal skin divides, the adult climbs out, and after its wings have expanded and dried, it flies off.

Butterflies are extensively utilized in objects of art and jewelry: mounted in frames, embedded in resin, displayed in bottles, laminated in the paper, and used in some mixed media artwork and home furnishings and decors.

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A few of the gorgeous butterfly species are the following:

1.Glasswing butterfly

Scientific name: Greta oto

They are widely known for their distinct transparent wings that permit it to camouflage without comprehensive coloration. While its wings appear fragile, the butterfly is able to carry up to 40 times its own weight. The glass wing butterfly is most frequently present from Central to South America as far south as Chile, with appearances as north as Mexico and Texas. The adult butterfly feeds generally on the nectar of the flowers of the genus Lantana.

Glasswing-butterfly

2.Blue morpho

Scientific name: Morpho Menelaus

They are among the most familiar and identifiable neotropical insects. Due to its characteristic blue color, Morpho Menelaus is thought important and valuable amongst collectors.

The wingspan of blue morpho is roughly 12 cm, and its dorsal forewings and hindwings are a brilliant, rainbowlike blue edged with black, while the ventral surfaces are brown. Blue morphos reside in the tropical forests of Latin America from Mexico to Colombia.

Blue-morpho

3.Orange oakleaf

Scientific name: Kallima inachus

The butterfly wings are formed like a leaf when in the closed position. When the wings are closed, just the enigmatic underside markings show up, which consists of irregular patterns and striations in many tones of buff, browns, yellow, and black. The veins are darkened and resemble the veins of a leaf. They are found in Tropical Asia from India to Japan.

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Orange-oakleaf

4.White-barred emperor

Scientific name: Charaxes Brutus

It is indigenous to Africa. The average wingspan is 60– 75 mm in males and 75– 90 mm in females. Flight duration is year-round.

White-barred-emperor

5.Birdwing butterfly

Scientific name: Ornithoptera chimaera

It is found in mountain areas of New Guinea, Central Range montane rainforests. Males have two green areas. The forewings are ground color black. The female is larger than the male. The basic color of the female butterfly is dark brown.

Birdwing-butterfly

6.Cramer’s eighty-eight

Scientific nameDiaethria clymena

It is native from Mexico to Peru and Brazil. They are black in color with a blue band on each wing. The underside is of red and white combination with black stripes that look like a laid outnumber “89” or “98”. The average wingspan is about 30– 40 millimeters.

Cramer-eighty-eight

 

 

Amazing Facts about Butterflies
  • Butterflies belong to a group of insects “Lepidoptera” which means “scaled wings.”
  • Butterflies have an average life span of almost two weeks.
  • The largest butterfly species is Queen Alexandra’s birdwing.
  • The smallest known butterfly species is Western Blue Pigmy.
  • The taste receptors of butterflies are in their feet.
  • Butterflies eat liquid foods like flower nectar.
  • Butterflies are used in art and jewelry.
  • They have typical life cycle of four stages which include egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult butterfly.