Many connoisseurs of beauty, poets and artists admire elegant creatures - butterflies. It is impossible to take your eyes off the flight of light-winged creatures, the flutter of their delicate wings, and the smooth flutter. We are so accustomed to some breeds of butterflies that we pass by their representatives without stopping. But in the natural world lives hundreds of thousands of species of lepidopteran beauties, one more beautiful. We invite you to find out the main breeds of butterflies, their names and description.
The appearance of winged beauties
Each breed of butterflies 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. Many cities today have created special butterfly gardens 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." Intricate patterns are woven on their finest wings. The designer for such diversity was nature itself. She created these marvelous 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 order Lepidoptera. For protection, there is a chiton layer on the body of these creatures. 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 butterflies has its own pattern on the wings. Their range can reach up to 30 cm in some species. The butterfly consists of a sedentary head, huge eyes, antennae, and mouth. She also has a chest, 3 pairs of legs with spurs, an abdomen.
Lepidoptera dolls
Butterflies are characterized by a phase of individual development with the complete transformation of larvae into an insect. It's about a butterfly doll. These pupae hang motionless; they do not feed and do not change size. It appears from the larvae (caterpillars), which stop eating and freeze. Before pupation, the larvae surround themselves with a cocoon. To build it, they most often use silk or scratching. Between thin threads grains of sand, small particles of plants can come across.
Many caterpillars pupate on the back 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, and their bodies are rebuilt. All this happens in complete silence. A cocoon butterfly can be obtained in some species in two days, and in others in a few years.
Description of the Swallowtail butterfly
There are 158 570 species of butterflies. Each of them has its own color, the size of the wings. It is they who so attract our views. We offer you a description of six very beautiful representatives of lepidopteran insects. I want to start acquaintance with the amazing swallowtail butterfly. She is a large enough and beautiful daytime beauty. Its wingspan can be up to 70 mm. It is especially necessary to highlight its wings of the original form. Swallowtail painted dark yellow. The wings have a pattern consisting of black spots and a dark border. On the hind wings there are 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, clearings. They hatch from pupae twice a year. They feed on the nectar of umbrella plants. The life of a machaon, unfortunately, is short - about three weeks. The photo below shows you the beauty of this beauty.
Butterfly Marigold
Butterflies called marigolds are quite common. In another way they are also called satirides. Usually it is a small or medium insect. The color of wings on marigolds alternates from light brown to gray. This color is a kind of camouflage robe. On a neutral tone of the wings there are circles of black, white and yellow hues. These circles look like the eyes of an animal. This protects the insect from birds hunting them, which with their beak try to get to these points.
It is important to note that there are species 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 feel best in the forest. Marigold butterfly has the ability to fly along an uneven path. It flutters so randomly that birds cannot catch a dexterous insect.
Butterfly admiral
The following insect, the admiral, has a very interesting name. In Turkish, this word means "Lord of the Seas." What does a winged creature have to do with the sea? Probably, this name was given to the insect because of its bright wings. They are black and decorated with red stripes, like trousers from the admirals of the Russian fleet.
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. The taste sensors of these insects are in the legs, so they stand on their food. Butterfly flight is fast and erratic. This is a daytime lepidoptera species, but sometimes they occur at night. The admiral's life expectancy is quite long - six months. The admiral butterfly was in the Red Book for some time, then she was expelled. To date, it is included only in the Red Book of the Smolensk region.
About the butterfly cabbage
In Russia, everyone knows what a butterfly cabbage butterfly looks like. It is also called the whitewash. This is due to the color of the wings. These insects are yellowish-white in color and with small black spots. If you touch the cabbage, pollen will sprinkle from it. They pollinate surrounding plants with it. These insects are endowed with good vision and smell, which allows them to recognize food. Female whites are larger.
It is no secret that the 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. This 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 spots in the form of eyes on the wings. The size of this insect is average, the wingspan can reach up to 6 cm. This species of butterflies lives in many corners of the planet, but most of all it is 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 wintering in the adult insect phase. Slots in the crust, forest and steppe litter serve as a shelter for them. In the summer, nectar for burdock, thistle, thyme, and scabiose serves as their food. Photo of a peacock eye butterfly.
Lycaenidae family
The name itself speaks of the appearance of these heavenly creations. Yes, these are blue butterflies. It’s not so common to see them. They are very colorful. The brightest polyommatus icarus. These butterflies do not harm, but, on the contrary, scare away insect pests. Most of all they love the edges of forests, meadows, coastal thickets. Some representatives of the family Lycaenidae 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. Lycaenidae are butterflies of the day and fly out in clear warm weather. There is a very unusual kind of lycaena with a greenish tint called raspberry. She likes to sit on raspberry flowers.
