All About Butterflies
Their life cycle, symbolic meaning, and the little details that make them magic.
About Butterflies
Butterflies are winged insects, often marked with brilliant color patterns on their scale-covered wings. Most species are diurnal — active by day — and while it's commonly believed they all live only a few days, adult lifespans actually range from about a week to nearly a year, depending on the species.
They turn up in a wide range of habitats: wetlands, meadows, a wood's edge, rainforests, and — with the right plants — an ordinary backyard garden. Adults feed mostly on flower nectar, though a few species prefer tree sap or rotting fruit. Butterflies belong to the order Lepidoptera, the same order as moths, and are distinguished mainly by their day-active habits, club-tipped antennae, and the way they fold their wings vertically at rest. Scientists have described roughly 18,000 species worldwide, with sizes ranging from the Queen Alexandra's Birdwing — a wingspan over 11 inches — down to the Western Pygmy Blue, barely half an inch across.
