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Narrative
Butterflies and Moths (Order Lepidoptera) are a group of insects with four large wings. They go through various life cycles including eggs, caterpillar (larvae), pupae, and adult. Most butterflies and moths feed as adults, but primarily do most of their growing in the larval or caterpillar stage. Also, most species are restricted to feeding as caterpillars upon a unique set of plants. In this pairing of insects to plants, there arises a unique plant population control system. When one plant species becomes too common, specific pests to that species also become more common and thus prevent the further spreading of that particular plant species.
Although most people think of the Lepidoptera as two different groups: butterflies and moths, technically, the concept is not valid.
Some families, such as Silk Moths (Saturnidae) and Hawk Moths (Sphingidae), are clearly moths. Other families, such as Swallowtail Butterflies (Papilionidae), are clearly butterflies, However, several families exhibit characteristics that appear to be neither moths nor butterflies. For example: the Castnia Moths of South America are frequently placed in the Skipper Family (Hesperidae). The Sunset Moths (Uranidae) have long narrow antennae and fly during the day.
Note: Numerous museums and biologists have loaned specimens to be photographed for this project.
Taxonomy
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Latin
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English
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Kingdom
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Animalia
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Animal
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Phylum
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Arthropoda
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Jointed Legged Animals
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Class
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Insecta
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Insects
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Order
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Lepidoptera
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Butterflies And Moths
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Family
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SubFamily
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References
| Title | Author | Comments |
| Butterflies of the Oriental Region, Part II | D'Abrera, Bernard | Bernard D'Abrera has spent his life photographing, studying, and writing about the collections at the British Museum. His superb works on butterflies contain all species portrayed life size, with many females, and many subspecies pictured. The butterfly scientist will find these books of great value. This volume covers Nymphalidae, Satyridae, and Amathusidae of the oriental region. |
| Butterfiles of the Afrotropical Region | D'Abrera, Bernard | Bernard D'Abrera has spent his life photographing, studying, and writing about the collections at the British Museum. His superb works on butterflies contain all species portrayed life size, with many females; many subspecies pictured. The butterfly scientist will find these books of great value. This large volume covers all families of African butterflies. |
| Butterflies of the Oriental Region, Part I | D'Abrera, Bernard | Bernard D'Abrera has spent his life photographing, studying, and writing about the collections at the British Museum. His superb works on butterflies contain all species portrayed life size, with many females, and many subspecies pictured. The butterfly scientist will find these books of great value. This volume covers the Papilionidae, Pieridae, and Danaidae of the oriental region. |
| The Butterflies of North America | Howe, William H. | This giant book has 97 color plates figuring 2093 specimens of North American butterflies. The 633 pages contain very detailed information on all species and subspecies of butterflies found in North America. |
| The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula | Corbert, A. Steven | This excellent and detailed book with over 550 pages covers in detail the butterflies of Malaysia. Some of the species are pictured in color, but most are pictured in black and white. |
| The Butterfly Book | Holland W.J. | For many years this work was the standard reference for the butterflies of North America. The 77 color plates picture most of the known species of butterflies. |
| Butterflies of the Australian Region | D'Abrera, Bernard | This book is the work that earned Mr. D'Abrera his fame as the worlds premier author on butterfly books. Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and the Solomon Islands are covered in this work. All specimens are pictured life size. The color photography and color printing have set a standard that is difficult to equal. |
| International Butterfly Book | Smart, Paul | This book has had numerous printings and various titles including some including words such as butterfly encyclopedia. The accuracy of the book is superb, and the color photogrphs showing about 2,000 different species are excellent. This is a must have for the beginning student of world wide butterflies. With the exception of the D'Abrera books which are more complete, this work is the best book we have seen. |
| Eastern Moths | Covell, Charles V., Jr. | This excellent book covers the moths of the eastern United States and Canada. Most species are pictured with color photographs, but some of the smaller species are shown with black and white photographs. 650 are shown in color and 650 are shown in black and white to total about 1,300 species covered. |
| Butterflies of Africa | Williams, John G. | 436 species are described and 283 are illustrated in color. Although not all of the butterfly species found in Africa are shown, this guide covers most of the larger and more colorful species. |
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