Many connoisseurs of beauty, poets and artists admire graceful creatures - butterflies. It is impossible to take your eyes off the flight of light-winged creatures, the fluttering of their delicate wings, the smooth fluttering. We are already so accustomed to some species of butterflies that we pass by their representatives without stopping. But in the natural world there are hundreds of thousands of species of Lepidoptera beauties, one more beautiful than the other. We invite you to find out the main breeds of butterflies, their names and descriptions.
Appearance of winged beauties
Each breed of butterfly is unique and good in its own way. The room is filled with magic when an original gift in the form of a motley flying creature is brought into it. In many cities, special butterfly gardens have been created today, where you can not only admire these beauties, but also buy them at affordable prices.
A butterfly is a flying insect, otherwise called a "fluttering flower". On their thinnest wingsintricate patterns woven. Nature itself served as a designer for such a variegation. She created these wondrous creatures.
The ancient Slavs believed that the souls of the dead live in butterflies. This wonderful insect belongs to the type of arthropods and the Lepidoptera order. For protection, these creatures have a chiton layer on their bodies. These insects are endowed with two pairs of wings covered with small scales. Inside the wings there are many transverse and longitudinal veins. Each breed of butterfly has its own pattern on the wings. Their span can reach up to 30 cm in some species. A butterfly consists of a sedentary head, huge eyes, antennae, and a mouth. She also has a chest, 3 pairs of legs with spurs, an abdomen.
Pupae of Lepidoptera
Butterflies are characterized by a phase of individual development with the complete transformation of larvae into insects. It's about a butterfly chrysalis. These pupae hang motionless, they do not feed and do not change size. It appears from the larvae (caterpillars), which stop feeding and freeze. Before pupation, the larvae surround themselves with a cocoon. For its construction, they most often use silk or chesuchi. Between thin threads, grains of sand, small particles of plants can come across.
Many caterpillars pupate on the underside of the leaves of forage plants. Such leaves do not fall for the winter, because the larvae specially process them. In pupae, the caterpillars become small, their bodies are rebuilt. All this happens in complete silence. A cocoon butterfly can take two days for some species, and several years for others.
Description of the butterfly swallowtail
There are 158,570 species of butterflies. Each of them has its own color, size of wings. They are the ones that grab our attention. We offer you a description of six very beautiful representatives of Lepidoptera insects. I would like to start acquaintance with an amazing swallowtail butterfly. She is a fairly large and beautiful daytime beauty. Its wingspan can be up to 70 mm. It is especially necessary to highlight its wings of the original form. Swallowtails are painted in dark yellow. The wings have a pattern consisting of black spots and a dark border. The hindwings have spurs and a red spot.
These butterflies live in Europe, Asia. But they avoid the tropics, although it is found in Alaska. These light-winged creatures love to flutter on the edges of the forest, meadows, glades. They hatch from pupae twice a year. They feed on the nectar of umbrella plants. The life of the swallowtail, unfortunately, is short - about three weeks. The photo below shows you the beauty of this beauty.
Marigold Butterfly
Butterflies called "marigolds" are quite common. In another way, they are also called satyrides. Usually it is a small or medium insect. The color of the wings of marigolds alternates from light brown to gray. This color is a kind of camouflage attire. On the neutral tone of the wings there are circles of black, white and yellow shades. These circles are like the eyes of an animal. This protects the insect from birds that hunt them,who are trying to hit these points with their beaks.
It is important to note that there are types of marigolds with a rather variegated color. You can see such a butterfly in the photo below. Such a beauty can be found in many countries of the world, especially in the corners of the former USSR. They do best in the forest. The marigold butterfly has the ability to fly along an uneven trajectory. It flutters so erratically that the birds cannot catch the nimble insect.
Butterfly Admiral
The following insect has a very interesting name - admiral. In Turkish, this word means "Lord of the Seas". What relation to the sea can a light-winged creature have? Probably, this name was given to the insect because of its bright wings. They are black and decorated with red stripes, similar to the trousers worn by admirals of the Russian Navy.
This is a large insect with a wingspan of up to 6 cm. These migratory insects are found in Europe, North America, Asia Minor. These are omnivorous butterflies with angular wings. Shaggy rims are visible on the front legs of the admirals. Taste sensors in these insects are in the legs, so they use them to stand on their food. The flight of butterflies is fast and erratic. This is a diurnal species of Lepidoptera, but sometimes they are found at night. The life expectancy of an admiral is quite long - six months. Butterfly Admiral was in the Red Book for some time, then it was excluded. To date, it is included only in the Red Book of the Smolensk region.
About the butterflycabbage soup
In Russia, everyone knows what a cabbage butterfly looks like. She is also called white. This is due to the color of the wings. These insects are yellowish-white in color and have small black patches. If you touch the cabbage, then pollen will fall from it. They pollinate surrounding plants with it. These insects are endowed with good eyesight and smell, which allows them to recognize food. The female whitefish is larger.
It's no secret that cabbage is so named because it loves to eat the leaves of this vegetable. This insect has very powerful jaws, which help it to feast on cabbage. Butterfly does not like hot weather, prefers a temperate climate. It is a very active migratory insect.
Peacock eye
One of the most beautiful European insects is the peacock butterfly. It is so named because it has eye-shaped spots on its wings. The size of this insect is average, the wingspan can reach up to 6 cm. This species of butterflies lives in many parts of the world, but most of all in Europe. The peacock eye loves to flutter over meadows, wastelands, steppes, forest edges, parks, ravines, gardens. You can see them from April to October. They spend the winter in the phase of an adult insect. Shelter for them are cracks in the bark, forest and steppe litter. In summer, the nectar of burdock, thistle, thyme, scabiosa serves as food for them. Photo of a butterfly peacock eye.
Family of pigeons
The name itself speaks of the appearance of these heavenly creations. Yes, they are blue butterflies. You don't get to see them very often. They are very colorful. The brightest pigeon Icarus. These butterflies do not harm, but, on the contrary, repel insect pests. Most of all they love the edges of forests, meadows, coastal thickets. Some representatives of the pigeon family are so rare that they are listed in the Red Book.
The largest species live in the tropics, their wingspan can reach 6 cm. The color of the wings of males is brighter than that of females. Bluebirds are diurnal butterflies and fly out in clear, warm weather. There is a very unusual type of blueberry with a greenish tint called raspberry. She loves to sit on raspberry blossoms.
Colorful moths
This family includes about 1,200 species of Lepidoptera beauties. Most of them live in the tropics, but some live in Russia. Pestrians have an interesting coloration. They are distinguished by a brilliant black or dark blue background with bright red or bright yellow spots. There are also monochromatic patches. These colorful butterflies are poisonous. With their bright appearance, they scare away their enemies. When threatened, they release a poisonous liquid that has a pungent odor.
The length of these butterflies can reach 5 cm. Her lifestyle is daytime, but sometimes there are night flights. Pestryanka love to eat the leaves of legumes. Unfortunately, these butterflies are called garden pests: their caterpillars eat the leaves of fruit trees. Pestryanka are very calm insects, they slowly fly from flower to flower and feast on sweet nectar. Also thesemotley insects love to bask in the sun on warm days. Some moths fly out at night to luminous lanterns or windows. They only fly short distances. In the end, it should be said that you can write endlessly about butterflies. We have only told a little.
