Litinsects

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...