Butterflies are celebrated all through the world for his or her brilliant colours and complicated patterns. Along with moths, they make up the insect order Lepidoptera, and these stunning flying bugs are discovered on all continents besides Antarctica.
On this web page is an inventory of the world’s most stunning butterflies with footage and information.
Web page Index
The Most Stunning Butterflies In The World
Blue Morpho
Scientific Title: Morpho helenor
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: Central and South America
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The blue morpho is a rainforest butterfly recognized for the beautiful iridescent blue colour of its wings. With a wingspan of as much as 20 cm / 7.9 in, the blue morpho can be one of many world’s largest butterflies.
The butterfly’s stunning blue colour is precipitated not by pigment, however by mild reflecting off tens of millions of microscopic scales and hairs within the insect’s wings. This is called structural coloration, and is seen in most brightly-colored butterflies.
The butterfly’s coloration is regarded as a protection mechanism; a sudden flash of these brilliant blue wings could also be sufficient to momentarily startle a possible predator, giving the blue morpho an opportunity to flee.
Native to neotropical habitats from southern North America to Argentina, the blue morpho prefers the sheltered environments of forest canopies. It feeds on fermenting fruits.
Morpho helenor is considered one of a number of associated blue butterfly species generally known as blue morphos (an instance of one other is Morpho peleides). It itself has many subspecies.
Clipper
Scientific Title: Parthenos sylvia
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: Southeast Asia, Australia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The clipper is a spectacular butterfly discovered throughout South and Southeast Asia. Its wings boast a putting sample of colours that vary from brilliant blue and inexperienced to deep browns.
Clippers are swift fliers, usually present in forest clearings and round human habitations. Their caterpillars feed on host crops like Passiflora vines, and adults sometimes take pleasure in sipping on nectar.
Clippers are recognized for his or her alternating flapping and gliding flight sample.
Comma
Scientific Title: Polygonia c-album
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: Europe and temperate Asia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The Comma butterfly is a gorgeous butterfly species simply recognized by its ragged wing edges and distinct white ‘comma’ mark on the underside of the hindwings.
The comma is present in temperate areas of Europe and Asia, and is considered one of a number of species of genus Polygonia generally known as commas; others within the group embody the Asian comma, Polygonia c-aureum, present in Asia, and the japanese comma, Polygonia comma, present in North America.
The comma, whose ragged, orange-brown wings present glorious camouflage, is commonly discovered on nettle crops in its larval (caterpillar) stage.
Frequent Blue
Scientific Title: Polyommatus icarus
Household: Lycaenidae
The place Discovered: Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The Frequent Blue is a small butterfly present in grasslands and meadows throughout Europe and Asia. The male is especially stunning, wanting like a glowing gem with its blue wings with white borders. The feminine is extra delicate, with orange-brown wings bordered with orange spots.
The butterfly’s caterpillars sometimes feed on the frequent chook’s-foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, though different meals crops are recognized.
Frequent Jezebel
Scientific Title: Delias eucharis
Household: Pieridae
The place Discovered: South and Southeast Asia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The frequent Jezebel is a medium-sized butterfly with vibrant yellow and pink markings on a white background, framed by black borders.
Native to South and Southeast Asia, the frequent Jezebel is present in habitats starting from rainforests to cities, and is a typical customer to gardens.
The species’ conspicuous coloration is aposematic, warning predators of its unpalatability. The butterfly flies excessive within the rainforest cover, and the intense coloration of its underwings in comparison with the comparatively plain look of the highest of its wings could also be an adaptation to warn birds flying beneath it.
Crimson Rose
Scientific Title: Pachliopta hector
Household: Papilionidae
The place Discovered: South Asia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The crimson rose is a gorgeous south Asian butterfly with velvety black wings adorned with putting crimson patches. Its wingspan can attain as much as 90-110 mm, and the species has a vivid pink physique.
This species belongs to the genus Pachliopta, a gaggle generally known as the red-bodied swallowtails, part of the swallowtail household, Papilionidae.
The crimson rose is discovered all through a lot of India, in addition to in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and thrives in a wide range of habitats from sea stage to mountainsides.
The butterfly’s brilliant coloration and distinctive flight sample serve to warn potential predators that it’s poisonous; the species collects toxins from the crops it eats as a caterpillar. In its grownup kind it feeds on nectar from flowers.
(Jap) Black Swallowtail
Scientific Title: Papilio polyxenes
Household: Papilionidae
The place Discovered: North America
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The japanese black swallowtail, often known as the black swallowtail or American swallowtail, has black wings punctuated by yellow spots and blue iridescence, with attribute elongated tail extensions of all swallowtail butterflies.
This putting butterfly is broadly distributed throughout North America, and will be present in open, sunny areas comparable to fields, gardens and parks. It prefers heat or tropical habitats.
Caterpillars are discovered on a wide range of crops, together with angelica, parsley, dill and fennel, making them a well-known sight for a lot of gardeners.
As a protection, the larva possesses an osmeterium, a V-shaped organ on the entrance of the thorax that emits a foul odor to discourage predators. (It is a attribute of the larvae of all swallowtail butterflies.)
Glasswing Butterfly
Scientific Title: Greta oto
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: Central and South America
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The glasswing butterfly is called for its translucent wings, that are an adaptation to hide the insect from predators towards a variety of backgrounds.
The glasswing butterfly is usually present in rainforest habitats from Mexico south to Panama, however is sometimes seen as far north as Texas. It sips nectar from a wide range of flowering crops, particularly these of genus Lantana.
As a caterpillar, the glasswing butterfly feeds primarily on crops of genus Cestrum. Toxins in these crops make the butterfly toxic to predators.
Gulf Fritillary
Scientific Title: Agraulis vanillae
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: Southern United States, Central America, and South America
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The Gulf Fritillary is a putting, medium-sized butterfly notable for its vibrant orange wings speckled with black spots. The undersides of its wings have distinctive silver markings.
This stunning orange butterfly is discovered within the southeastern United States, Central America, and northern South America. It makes use of ardour vines as host crops for its caterpillars. As an grownup, it feeds on the nectar of Lantana crops.
The species’ caterpillars are brilliant orange with lengthy, delicate spines. Adults are generally seen in numerous open habitats, together with meadows, parks, and gardens.
Malachite
Scientific Title: Siproeta stelenes
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: Central and South America
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The Malachite is a gorgeous neotropical butterfly with giant wings with a singular mosaic of black and vivid inexperienced markings, harking back to the mineral malachite. This stunning butterfly inhabits rainforests and secondary forests from South Texas to Brazil.
Malachites are sometimes noticed fluttering within the dappled daylight of the understory, the place they feed on flower nectar, rotting fruit, and even chook droppings. Their caterpillars feed on crops from the Acanthaceae household.
Monarch
Scientific Title: Danaus plexippus
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: North America, Central America, South America, Australia, and a few Pacific Islands
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The Monarch butterfly has vivid orange wings crisscrossed with black veins and edged with a black border speckled with white spots.
Males will be distinguished from females by the presence of a small black spot on every hind wing that releases pheromones, and veins that are usually barely thinner than these of the females.
Monarchs have a wingspan starting from 8.9 to 10.2 centimeters / 3.5 to 4.0 inches, making them one of many bigger butterfly species generally discovered throughout North America.
The Monarch butterfly is famend for its exceptional annual migration, touring hundreds of miles from North America to central Mexico and again, a journey that spans a number of generations.
Orange-Barred Sulphur
Scientific Title: Phoebis philea
Household: Pieridae
The place Discovered: Southern United States, Central America, and northern South America
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The orange-barred sulphur has vibrant yellow wings with distinctive orange bars on the higher facet in males and duller yellow or greenish-white in females.
The wingspan of this eye-catching butterfly sometimes ranges between 68 and 80 millimeters, making it one of many bigger species inside the sulphur butterfly group.
The orange-barred sulphur is discovered within the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and all through northern South America.
Males of the species could also be seen participating in communal “mud-puddling” conduct, gathering on moist sand or mud to ingest important minerals and salts.
Peacock Butterfly
Scientific Title: Aglais io
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: Europe and temperate Asia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The peacock butterfly has strikingly colourful wings adorned with vibrant eye-spots on a wealthy reddish-brown background. The eyespots are an adaptation for startling predators, giving the butterfly an opportunity to flee.
This stunning butterfly is discovered throughout Europe and temperate Asia, in gardens, woodlands, and grassy areas the place stinging nettles, its larval meals plant, are plentiful. As an grownup, it may be seen gathering nectar from crops comparable to buddleia.
Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing
Scientific Title: Ornithoptera alexandrae
Household: Papilionidae
The place Discovered: Papua New Guinea
IUCN Conservation Standing: Endangered
The Queen Alexandra’s birdwing is the biggest butterfly on the earth, with females boasting a wingspan as much as 12 inches / 30 cm, considerably bigger than the males. Its spectacular wings are vibrant and colourful, with females displaying brown and white wings with yellow and blue accents, and males that includes a extra putting electrical blue and inexperienced sample towards a darkish background.
The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly is completely discovered within the lowland tropical rainforests of Oro Province in Papua New Guinea close to town of Popondetta. Its main meals crops are vines of genus Pararistolochia.
Purple Admiral
Scientific Title: Vanessa atalanta
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: North America, Europe, northern Africa, and Asia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The pink admiral is a medium-sized butterfly with putting black wings, marked by vibrant pink bands and white spots, making it simply recognizable. Its wingspan sometimes ranges from about 45 to 50 millimeters (roughly 1.8 to 2.0 inches).
The butterfly is discovered throughout temperate areas of North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, thriving in a wide range of habitats together with woodlands, gardens, parks, and grassy areas, the place its larval host crops like nettles and hops can be found.
The pink admiral is commonly one of many newest butterflies to be noticed earlier than the onset of winter.
Scarlet Swallowtail / Scarlet Mormon
Scientific Title: Papilio rumanzovia
Household: Papilionidae
The place Discovered: Southeast Asia to northern Australasia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The Scarlet Swallowtail (often known as the scarlet Mormon) is a putting butterfly with a deep pink and black coloration.
The species has a substantial wingspan, typically measuring between 120 to 140 millimeters (about 4.7 to five.5 inches), making it one of many bigger species inside the swallowtail household.
the Scarlet Swallowtail is discovered throughout Southeast Asia and the western Pacific areas, together with the Philippines, Taiwan, and elements of Australia. It thrives in tropical and subtropical rainforests, usually seen fluttering excessive within the cover and infrequently descending to decrease vegetation to feed or lay eggs. Its larvae feed on citrus crops.
Swallowtail
Scientific Title: Papilio machaon
Household: Papilionidae
The place Discovered: Europe, Asia, and North America
IUCN Conservation Standing: Least Concern
The swallowtail is definitely acknowledged by its giant, vibrant yellow wings adorned with black vein markings and a collection of blue and pink spots close to the tails of the hindwings. Its wingspan sometimes ranges from 65 to 86 millimeters (about 2.6 to three.4 inches), that includes the attribute tail-like extensions on the hindwings that give swallowtails their title.
The primary of the swallowtails to be named, the species is often known as the Previous World swallowtail to distinguish it from different swallowtails of household Papilionidae. It is likely one of the solely swallowtails generally seen in Europe.
The swallowtail has a broad vary that extends throughout the northern hemisphere, together with Europe, Asia, and North America. This species thrives in various habitats comparable to meadows, marshes, river valleys, and gardens, significantly the place its larval host crops, together with numerous species of the Apiaceae household like fennel and parsley, are plentiful.
Ulysses Butterfly
Scientific Title: Papilio ulysses
Household: Papilionidae
The place Discovered: Australasia
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
One in every of Australia’s most stunning butterflies, the Ulysses butterfly is understood for its good, iridescent blue wings, edged with black. Its wingspan is usually round 140 mm / 5.5 in. Sometimes for a swallowtail butterfly, every of its hindwings has a tail-like projection.
The Ulysses butterfly is predominantly discovered within the tropical rainforests of northern Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands. It thrives in moist, lush environments the place it flutters excessive within the cover, usually descending to decrease ranges to feed on the nectar of flowering crops.
This stunning blue butterfly is used as a vacationer emblem for Queensland, Australia.
Zebra Longwing
Scientific Title: Heliconius charithonia
Household: Nymphalidae
The place Discovered: Southern United States, Central America, and northern South America
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The zebra longwing has elongated wings with a particular sample of yellow stripes on a black background, giving this stunning butterfly a putting, zebra-like look.
The wingspan of this species sometimes ranges from 70 to 100 millimeters (about 2.8 to 4 inches), with its slender physique and sluggish, sleek flight including to its elegant demeanor.
The zebra longwing is discovered within the southern United States, south by Central America to the Amazon basin in South America. It’s the state insect of Florida.
This putting butterfly thrives in heat, tropical and subtropical environments, frequenting a wide range of habitats together with hardwood hammocks (areas of closed cover forest), gardens, and alongside forest edges. As an grownup, it feeds on each pollen and nectar. As a caterpillar, its host crops are a number of species of passionflowers.
Zebra Swallowtail
Scientific Title: Protographium marcellus
Household: Papilionidae
The place Discovered: Southeastern United States
IUCN Conservation Standing: Not Listed
The zebra swallowtail is definitely recognizable by its pale white wings marked with black zebra-like stripes and patches of pink and blue. Like different swallowtail butterflies, it has lengthy, tail-like extensions on its hindwings.
This distinctive butterfly sometimes has a wingspan starting from 6 to 10 centimeters (about 2.4 to 4 inches).
The zebra swallowtail is primarily discovered within the japanese United States, significantly from Florida to southern Ontario, and is the state butterfly of Tennessee.
The popular habitat of the zebra swallowtail contains moist woodland areas close to rivers or swamps, the place its larval host plant, the pawpaw tree, is plentiful.
Why Do Butterflies Have Brightly-Coloured Wings?
Like all the things in nature, a butterfly’s brilliant colours aren’t only for present; the colours and patterns are variations which have advanced to serve quite a few organic functions.
A butterfly’s colours can act as a mechanism for warmth absorption or reflection, holding the butterfly working on the appropriate temperature, permitting it to get on with the essential issues in life, comparable to feeding and copy.
A butterfly’s wings usually play a key function in communication and survival. Brilliant colours is usually a warning sign, a phenomenon generally known as aposematism, that indicators to predators that the butterfly is probably poisonous or foul-tasting.
Mimicry, one other survival technique, is when butterflies have advanced to mimic the looks of different, extra harmful species. The attention-like markings generally known as eyespots on the wings of many butterfly species mimic the eyes of bigger animals to scare away potential predators.
Eyespots and brightly-colored wings will also be shortly flashed to startle or confuse potential predators; a method generally known as deimatic conduct.
The colours and patterns can support in mating rituals, attracting companions with particular visible cues that signify health and species identification.
Uncover Extra With Lively Wild
Discover out extra about butterflies on thee following pages:
Uncover the distinction between moths and butterflies: Moth Vs Butterfly
You will discover out extra about bugs on this web page: Bugs – The Final Information
Uncover extra invertebrates on this web page: Listing Of Invertebrates
Turn into an professional on the whole animal kingdom: Animals – The Final Information