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Frequently Asked
Questions
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If you have any interesting questions of your own please send me an
e-mail and I'll do my best to provide an answer, either
personally, or via this page. Click on the links below to see the
answers !
How did the word
"butterfly" originate ?
According to popular belief, the word "butterfly" is derived from the expression
"butter-coloured fly", a term which may have been applied to the Brimstone,
which is one of Britain's most well known and common
species; and frequently the first species to be seen when the adults awake from
hibernation in early Spring.
There may
however be more truth in another explanation - In Olde English the word was
spelt butterfloege,
while in in Old Dutch and Old German it was
botervleig, and
butterfliege
respectively. All of these translate as "butter-fly". Another German name
milchdieb
translates as "milk-thief", and probably refers to the habit that these insects
have of being attracted to the aroma of buttermilk. In areas of eastern Europe
where ancient farming methods are still practiced it has been noted that
butterflies of various species are sometimes attracted to buttermilk being
hand-churned in farmyards. Could this be a more logical explanation ?
Brimstone butterfly - the original
"butter-coloured fly" ?
Elsewhere in the world, butterflies are known by other names. In
Spain and much of Latin America they are called
mariposas,
in Portugal and
Brazil they are
borbolettas,
to the French they are
papillons,
and in the Japanese language they are
chocho. The Russian word for butterfly is
babochka, and in Armenia it is
teeternig, but my favourites are the Masai
osampurumpuri, and the Nigerian
( Ibu )
olookolombooka
!
Click here to see the historic
names of all British butterflies.
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What is the
difference between a butterfly and a moth ?
Scientifically speaking, there is
no difference. The order Lepidoptera is divided into 87 families. Each family has
different characteristics. The members of 6 of these
families are known colloquially as butterflies. Some people will
tell you that butterflies fly by day, and moths by night, but
there are plenty of moths that fly in the daytime, and as anyone
who runs a moth light in the tropics can tell you, there are
plenty of night flying butterflies.
All butterflies have
club-tipped antennae, and most moths have feathery or thin
pointed antennae, but there are day-flying moths with clubbed
antennae, including the Burnets
( Zygaenidae ) and the Cane Borers ( Castniidae ). The fore and
hind-wings of almost all moths, and the males of a single
butterfly species - the Australian Southern Regent Skipper
Euschemon
rafflesia
are linked together in flight by a wing-coupling bristle known
as a frenulum. For every rule there is at least one exception !
For the record, this website deals
primarily with the following 6 families, all colloquially known as
butterflies - Hesperiidae, Papilionidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae,
Riodinidae, and Nymphalidae. The last of these - Nymphalidae,
includes several subfamilies and tribes which were formerly
classified as full families. These include
Satyrinae, Morphinae, Libytheinae, Danainae, Ithomiini,
Acraeini, Amathusiini, Brassolini, and Heliconiini.
For more details about
classification please visit the
Taxonomy pages.
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How do scientists
describe and name new species ?
When someone believes they have discovered a
"new" species, they have to send a sample specimen to a
taxonomist for analysis. By examining the structure of the
wings, legs and other anatomical features the family and
subfamily can quickly be determined. Examination of the layout
of the wing veins makes it possible to
ascertain whether the insect belongs to an existing genus, or
whether it has unique features which require a new genus to be
created for it. By dissecting and comparing the genitalia of the
sample specimen with that of "known" species it can then be
established whether the butterfly is merely an unusual colour
form of a known species, or whether it is "undescribed", i.e. a
species unknown to science.
If the butterfly does turn out to be a new
species, the
taxonomist then creates a Latinised name for it, and
publishes the description and name in a recognised scientific
journal.
The origin of scientific names varies
enormously. Some species are named after Greek gods, some are
named after the place where the butterfly was discovered, or
named in honour of some eminent entomologist.
It is considered unethical for taxonomists to
name any species after themselves, but there is at least one instance
where someone got away with it - a scarab beetle named
Cartwrightia cartwrighti
CARTWRIGHT.
Names can also be descriptive of the
caterpillar's foodplant : the Orange tip's name
Anthocharis cardamines refers
to garlic mustard Cardamines pratensis;
or the wing colour - the Clouded Yellow's species name
crocea means "deep yellow".
They can also refer to the wing shape - the genus name of the
Comma Polygonia means "many
angled"; or the pattern - the species names of the Peacock
io and the Eyed Hawkmoth
ocellatus both mean "eyed" and
refer to the false eyespots on their wings.
The
Charismatic Metalmark
Taxonomists are not usually renowned for having a great sense of
humour, but amongst their more hilarious moments they have
managed to provide us with a few amusing scientific names. Hence
we have a pair of metalmarks from Colombia, named by Hall and
Harvey in 2002 as
Charis ma
and
Charis matic
! Both have now been renamed rather less attractively as
Detritivora ma
and
Detritivora matic.
The new genus name refers to the fact that the caterpillars feed
on decaying leaves and other detritus on the forest floor.
The World's
dullest Skipper ?
Sometimes it can be difficult to think
up names for some of the more mundane looking species,
particularly for the hundreds of near-identical dull brown skipper
species found in the neotropics. In 1997 the taxonomist Austin was apparently so
unimpressed with his latest discovery that he gave a "new" Mexican
species the unfortunate name Inglorius
mediocris, which needs little translation !
Below is it's official
scientific description :
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Inglorius
Austin, new genus
Type species:
Inglorius mediocris
Austin, new species
Description.
Palpi slender, third segment straight, protruding well
beyond second segment, about equal to length of dorsal
edge of second segment; antennae long, extending beyond
end of forewing discal cell, nearly 60% length of forewing
costa, black with pale ochreous beneath distad and below
club; club just over 1/4 (28%) antennal length, bent to
apiculus at thickest part, apiculus length about 2x club
width, nudum grey, of 12
segments (3 on club, 9 on apiculus); forewing discal cell
slightly produced, 75% length of anal margin, origin of
vein CuA2 nearer to CuA, than to wing base, hindwing
discal cell just over 1/2 wing width; mid tibiae with four
fine spines on inner surface and single pair of spurs,
hind tibiae with two pairs of spurs; forewing produced
with slight concavity between CuA! and 2A; hindwing convex
anteriorly, somewhat concave between CuAj and 2A; no
apparent secondary sexual characters. Male genitalia with
short tegumen; uncus longer than tegumen, undivided, and
hood-like over gnathos; gnathos
as long as uncus, divided, extending laterad of uncus in
dorsal view and as rectangular flaps mesad in ventral
view; vinculum sinuate; saccus short; valva very long,
ampulla/costa long and sloping somewhat downward caudad,
harpe long, roughly triangular ending in an inward turned
point caudad, dorsal margin undulate, weakly serrate
cephalad; aedeagus tubular (anterior portion missing),
caudal end expanded terminally in lateral view, no
apparent cornutus. |
For more details about
nomenclature / classification please visit the
Taxonomy
pages.
Click here for a further selection of fascinating scientific
names.
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How long does a
butterfly live ?
It varies considerably according
to species. The average lifespan of an adult butterfly is about
2 weeks, but some species ( e.g.
Heliconius erato
and
Taygetis mermeria
from South America, and
Gonepteryx rhamni
from Europe ) can live for at least 11 months.
The whole
lifecycle from egg to adult can take just 3 weeks to complete in
many tropical species.
In temperate regions the lifecycle
of the summer generation may be complete within about 6 weeks,
but many species only produce a single generation in a year. In
the sub-arctic zone, several species take 2 years to complete
the lifecycle.
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How many butterfly
species are there in the world ?
The
Barcode of Life Project estimates that 1.7 million species
of animal are currently known to science, of which 253,680 are butterflies
or moths.
In "Butterflies of North America" ( Scott, 1992 ) a census was published
which estimated that there were approximately 14,750 butterfly species ( including skippers )
worldwide.
Since then many more species have been discovered, and
many species previously listed as sub-species have been elevated
to full species status. In 2007 Adrian Hoskins collated data from a number of
sources and produced a
World
Butterfly Census which enumerates 17657 currently known
species.
The
true total will never be known, as many species will become
extinct before they are discovered, but is likely to be in the
region of 18,000 - 21,000 species.
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Why are butterflies heavily concentrated in the
tropics ?
There
are several contributing factors :
Firstly,
there are a great many more biological and climatic niches to be
occupied in the tropics - in Peru for example, where there are
more butterfly species than anywhere else in the world, there are
deserts, high altitude grasslands, rainforests and cloudforests.
These habitats contains many sub-habitats, each capable of
supporting a sizeable fauna, e.g. a rainforest will have an
entirely different range of species in the canopy, sub-canopy, and
understorey.
Secondly, during ice ages, it is only the tropical and
sub-tropical regions which are able to support butterflies, so
these become refugiae into which species from elsewhere contract. The
butterflies that normally live in temperate regions either become
extinct or migrate and survive on remote mountains in the tropics
where conditions are suitable for them. When the Earth warms up
again, and temperate regions once again become habitable by
butterflies, they are recolonised slowly, either by species that
return from the tropical mountains, or by tropical lowland species
which are able to adapt to the new conditions. Temperate
butterflies are therefore comprised of a small proportion of species
that re-emerge from the tropics.
Thirdly, the
climate, and the evergreen nature of the foliage in the tropical
lowlands, enables many more generations to breed each year -
perhaps as many as 8 generations for some species, compared with
just one or two in temperate regions. This, according to the
Theory of Evolution provides many more opportunities for new forms
to arise.
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How do you tell
the difference between a male and female butterfly ?
In many species there are obvious
visual differences. The Polyommatinae ( Blues ) for example
usually have blue males and brown females.
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Common
Blue - only the males are blue - the females are brown |
Only the male
Orange tip has the orange wing tips |
The males of
Hairstreaks, Satyrines, large Fritillaries and Skippers often
have androconia ( scent scales ) in the form of dark
patches or streaks on the upperside forewings.
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male Large
Skipper showing diagonal band of androconia on
forewings |
male
Silver-washed Fritillary has 4 bands of androconia on
forewings |
The differences in other species
may be more subtle - males generally have more angular wings,
longer thinner bodies, brighter colours, and stronger patterns
than females of the same species. There are usually obvious
differences in behaviour as well - males tend to actively patrol
their habitats, or to establish a small territory which they
defend against other butterflies. Females by comparison are far
more sedentary, and in the early part of their flight period
tend to stay in areas where both adult and larval food sources
are present.
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What is the most
widespread butterfly in the world ?
There are several very widespread species including the Monarch
Danaus plexippus,
the Plain Tiger
Danaus chrysippus,
the Long-tailed Blue
Lampides boeticus,
and the Small White
Pieris rapae,
all of which are found on at least 3 continents.
The Painted Lady
Vanessa cardui
however
is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world, found in
North America from Alaska to Mexico, and south to the Caribbean
islands and Venezuela. In the Old World it occurs throughout
Europe and temperate Asia, over most of Africa, Madagascar, the
Azores, the Canary Islands, the Arab states, and across to the
Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka. In the Far East it occurs in
Thailand, Malaysia, Borneo and Sumatra - and extends it's range
south through the Indonesian islands to Western Australia. The
New Zealand Painted Lady
Vanessa kershawi
is also regarded by some taxonomists to be a sub-species of
cardui.
 The
cosmopolitan distribution of the Painted Lady is caused by a
combination of it's very strong migratory behaviour and
polyphagous nature - in Britain the larvae feed almost
exclusively on thistles, but elsewhere they utilise a vast range
of larval foodplants amongst the Compositae, Boraginaceae,
Malvaceae, Hydrophyllaceea, Ulmaceae, Rutaceae, Chenopodiaceae,
Convolvulaceae, Plantaginaceae, Labiatae, Leguminosae,
Urticaceae, Verbenaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Cruciferae,
Umbelliferae, Rosaceae, Rhamnaceae, and even one or two
grasses !
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Which is the
largest butterfly in the world ?
The female of the
brown and cream Alexandra Birdwing
Ornithoptera alexandrae,
found in Papua New Guinea has a wingspan of about 20cms ( 8" ).
More impressive is the male of the Goliath Birdwing
Ornithoptera goliath
- a mere 16cms ( 6½" ) in wingspan, but patterned in shimmering
green and yellow on a black ground colour. The largest
butterflies in South America are the Owl butterfly
Caligo idomeneus
( 14cms ), and
Morpho helena,
the iridescent blue male reaching 13cms, and the orange and
brown female 15cms. In Africa the largest species is
Druryeia antimachus
at 17cms. At the opposite extreme are the tiny Lycaenids
Itylus titicaca
from Bolivia and
Freyeria miniscula
from Madagascar. The tiniest of them all however is a dull brown
Lycaenid
Micropsyche ariana,
found only in Afghanistan, which measures just 8mm across the
wings.
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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins
2007-2008 unless stated otherwise, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in
whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian
Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
Website designed, produced and owned by
Adrian Hoskins
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