Butterflies belong to the insect order Lepidoptera. The word "Lepidoptera" is derived from a Greek word meaning "scale wing." The butterfly wing scales create the wonderful colors and patterns observed in butterfly wings. There are 165,000 species of Lepidoptera worldwide, but of those, only about 24,000 are butterflies! Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches. Most adult butterflies only live one or two weeks. Adult butterflies use flower nectar as a food source. To obtain nectar, a butterfly’s mouth (proboscis) is a long tube it keeps rolled up until ready for use, and is then used as a straw. Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.
The transformation of the frequently ugly or bizarre caterpillar into an elegant butterfly – is truly one of the regularly performed miracles of Nature. All butterflies have "complete metamorphosis." To grow into an adult they go through 4 stages: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Each stage has a different goal – for instance, caterpillars need to eat a lot, and adults need to reproduce. Because the caterpillar and adult eat different kinds of food, this helps the butterflies to better survive. Depending on the species, the life cycle of a butterfly (one generation) may take anywhere from about one month to an entire year.
You can raise Painted Lady Butterflies from egg to adult to learn all about the butterfly life cycle. Three types of live butterfly raising kits are available in our Watch the caterpillar’s transition as it matures, changes into a chrysalid, and finally emerges as a Painted Lady butterfly! It is absolutely safe to release them into the environment. Each kit includes a colorful habitat, free certificate for butterfly larvae with special food, feeding kit and complete instructions.
Have you heard of migration of the Monarch butterfly? The monarch butterfly is one of the best known of all North American butterflies because they make annual migrations across America to avoid winter weather. In autumn, tens of millions of Monarch butterflies fly south and roost in huge numbers on trees in selected mountain areas of California and Mexico. Monarch butterflies will use the same trees year after year. The Monarch butterfly migrates for 2 reasons. They can not withstand freezing weather in the northern and central continental climates in the winter. Also, the larval food plants do not grow in their winter overwintering sites, so the spring generation must fly back north to regions where the plants are plentiful. Their journey can cover up to 2,000 miles before it ends!
Monarch butterflies and their amazing annual migration are seriously threatened by human activities, in both their summer and overwintering sites. Many of these threatening activities involve Monarch butterfly habitat destruction. New roads, housing developments, and agricultural expansion all transform a natural landscape so that Monarch butterflies can not live there. Also, some people consider milkweed plants, which are the plant their larvae feed on exclusively, a noxious weed so it is often destroyed.
With this information in mind, conservationists have created many projects to protect Monarch butterfly overwintering sites, most often through conservation easements of land. This means landowners set aside a portion of their land permanently as protected Monarch butterfly habitat. Some groups work with governmental agencies and local people to establish land protection and initiate education about Monarch conservation. You can visit the Reforestation and Habitat Protection Fund, which is a project working with the sensitive balance between the needs of the Monarch butterflies and the needs of the people who share the overwintering area with them. Also, the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary Foundation whose mission is to provide financial and scientific support for preserving the overwintering ground of eastern Monarch butterflies.