#43: Butterflies & Moths - What's the Difference?

Litinsects #43: Butterflies & Moths - What's the Difference?

What’s the difference between butterflies and moths? They both belong to the same order 🦋 LEPIDOPTERA, meaning „scale-wings“ (I talked about these scales back in my day 8 post).

Taxonomically speaking, butterflies are a MONOPHYLETIC group within Lepidoptera and moths are PARAPHYLETIC and I am fully aware that if you haven’t studied biology you will have absolutely no idea what that just meant… basically, all butterflies share common ancestry and can be considered a specialized group within the larger group of moths.

General differences include:

Resting wing position: Moths tend to hold their wings FLAT out to the sides or tent-like over their backs and butterflies rest with their wings closed VERTICALLY over their backs. Butterflies do sometimes open their wings flat to bask in the sun though

Behavior: Moths tend to to be NOCTURNAL (active at night) whereas butterflies are DIURNAL (active during the day)

Pupal stage: Moth caterpillars spin COCOONS made of silk, however butterfly caterpillars form a smooth, hard covering called a CHRYSALIS

Antennae shape: Butterflies have long thin antennae with small club or bulb-like structures at the tips. Moths can have widely diverse antennae shapes but very often they will be either long and thin (without bulbs) or feathery/comb-shaped

Color: Because moths are nocturnal, they are generally duller or more drab in color to help camouflage them from predators. Butterflies, are often decked out in brilliant colors because they fly by day and many locate their mates visually

General appearance: Moths tend to have thicker bodies and fuzzier wings, whereas butterflies usually have thinner bodies and look smoother. This is mostly due to the size of the insects’ scales; those of butterflies are smaller than those of moths

Of course there are numerous exceptions to each of these points. To quote the amazing Pirates of the Caribbean: „they’re more like guidelines than actual rules“. 😆 But generally speaking, you should now be able to tell the difference.

Comments

#13: Insect Legs

Litinsects #13: Insect Legs Insect legs can be as diverse as the animals themselves. Some are long and slender like a crane fly’s, some are short and hefty like a mole cricket’s. But what all insects share is the number and layout of those legs. Hexapods have 6 LEGS, a pair each of fore, mid, and hind legs that are made up of the same basic units. Starting closest to the body, they are: (1) the coxa, which attaches the leg to the thorax (2) the trochanter (3) the femur, which is oft en the thickest segment (4) the tibia, often covered in tiny hairs (5) the tarsus, which contains 5 “pseudo-segments” (6) the pretarsal claws, of which most insects have 2 on each leg The basic units of the leg always occur in this order but may be reduced or highly modified in some species to fit certain tasks such as running, digging, swimming, grasping, or jumping. This photo sums it up perfectly: from < https://wiki.bugwood.org/File:Insect...

WELCOME: Social Distancing Entomology Course

All week I’ve been seeing videos and posts of the creative stuff people have been doing while social distancing, all the while thinking, what could I contribute to all the people sitting at home on social media all day?? Well this morning it hit me. I will do what I do best! And that is... drop some nerd knowledge on you all 🤓 Welcome to my social distancing ENTOMOLOGY COURSE! Every day I will post an insect photo, most of which I’ve taken through my microscope, and explain about the insect group or the feature pictured. My hope is that you might learn something new about insects and maybe, just mayyyyybe, be a bit more fascinated and a bit less grossed out by the most diverse and arguably most successful group of animals to ever live... thanks for reading, stay tuned 🦋 🦟 🦗 🐞 🐜 🐛

#22: Caterpillars

Litinsects #22: Caterpillars Since you are freshly familiar with metamorphosis from my last posts, I will today be talking about caterpillars 🐛 and some structures that change drastically in appearance from before to after metamorphosis: legs. Caterpillars are the worm-shaped larval stage of butterflies and moths. They have huge appetites; they mainly feed to grow and gain energy for their transformation into adulthood. In order to do this they need to get around, for which they use le gs because only adult stages have wings. But insects only 3 pairs of legs, right? So where do all these extra legs come from all down the sides of their bodies? Caterpillars have 3 pairs of TRUE LEGS, attached to their thorax, which are jointed and have little claws on the end. These legs are still present after metamorphosis, though they will have changed substantially Additionally, they usually have 2 to 5 pairs of PROLEGS, which are protrusions fr...

Litinsects

Search This Blog