Butterflies are a general term for insects, the order Haematodactyn, and a class of insects in lepidoptera, with nearly 20,000 species and more than 2,000 species in China.
Butterflies usually have tiny scales on their wings that give them bright colors, so butterflies are called flying flowers.
First, the life habits of butterflies
1. Butterflies are completely metamorphosed insects, and need to go through four stages of development in their lives: hatching, larvae, pupae and adult, and the first three stages of development are called juvenile stages. The developmental process of an egg to the sexual maturity of an adult is called a life cycle or life history, and such a process is called a generation.
2. Butterflies use sharp mouthparts to suck sap from flowers, fruits, and plants to survive, so these butterflies like sunlight and live in warm temperate areas.
3. Butterflies usually lay their eggs on the dried leaves of plants, using mucus to stick to the top, generally a scattered distribution of grains, and there are a few stacked arhats like spawning methods. Depending on the amount of food, butterflies lay between 50 and 200 eggs; Egg hatching time varies from 5 to 15 days, and even some wintering and summering eggs take 300 days to hatch (most of the gray butterfly family is the grey butterfly family).
4. After the eggs hatch, many butterfly larvae will eat the egg shell to supplement nutrition. These larvae live on leaves and branches, and because the shell is hard and cannot grow with the body, it needs to molt multiple times, usually between 5-7 times.
5. Butterfly larvae usually eat plant leaves, flowers, fruits, there are also a small number of butterfly flesh, they often coexist with ants, mainly they secrete honeydew, ants like to eat honeydew and can protect these butterfly larvae from natural enemies.
6. Butterfly larvae grow to a certain stage, the system eats, discharges impurities in the body, and begins to pupate, this process takes 1-4 days, this pupa is generally brown or green, is a protective color, and the surrounding environment is well integrated.
7. The tissues and organs of the body develop rapidly during pupal, rather than a quiescent state; After the butterfly is transformed, the butterfly is wet, slowly crawling to the appropriate place, stopping to transmit blood to the blood vessels of the butterfly wings, the wings gradually harden, this process takes 20-60 minutes, feathering is a very critical process for butterflies.
Second, the distribution of butterflies
Butterflies are distributed in most parts of the world, but they are mainly distributed in tropical areas, including India, Southeast Asia, and the Amazon rainforest areas, which have bred the world's most important beautiful butterflies with ornamental value due to the variety of plants.
There are about 2200 species of butterflies on the mainland.
Third, the value of butterflies
1. Butterflies are extremely sensitive to environmental changes, so they are indicators of environmental change.
2. Butterflies contribute greatly to plant pollination.
3. Butterfly wings are rich in color, bright and beautiful, people study these color combinations, applied to textile and other processes, belonging to the category of biomimicry.
In addition to the beneficial value, different species of butterflies also have a certain destructive effect on different crops and trees during the growth cycle, and humans also have corresponding troubles.
Fourth, common butterflies
1. Zebra butterfly Zebra butterfly is a very protective butterfly, and the black stripes with thick lines on their bodies are themselves a warning color; They can also release odors to predators and writhe their bodies to make crunching sounds, which are all ways to warn predators.
2. Olive Oil Butterfly The female butterfly of the olive oil butterfly attracts male butterflies to come and mate on the plant by releasing chemicals, and this plant provides them with adequate nutrition.
3. Golden-spotted beaked butterfly The golden-spotted beaked butterfly is a rare butterfly species unique to China and is a national first-class protected animal; Their male and female insects have different morphologies and colors, mainly distributed in China's Southern provinces such as Hunan, Liangguang, Hainan and other southern provinces, and the official name of the golden plaque on the middle wing of the golden-spotted beaked butterfly is derived.
4. Leaf Ao Nong Butterfly Leaf Ao Nong Butterfly lives in South Asia, the shape is like a dry leaf, if it is a docked tree, the two wings are combined like a real leaf, the perfect protective color.
5. Purple Silver Silk Grey Butterfly The wings of the Purple Silver Silk Grey Butterfly are blue-purple metallic luster on the front, and the tail of the hindwings has a golden red pattern, which looks very divine; The most amazing thing about this butterfly is the false tentacles on the tail, which are constantly shaking, disguised as the head, but the real head does not move, creating doubts for predators and taking the opportunity to escape.
6. The black-veined golden-spotted butterfly, also known as the King Butterfly, is a large black and orange beetle with amazing flight capabilities, and they fly 3,000km back and forth from Mexico to South America every year to survive the winter; They like to huddle in the sun on a tree; There are strong toxins in their food, and if birds eat these butterflies regardless of their beautiful warning color, they will choose to take the toxin with them and die with the birds.
7. Vegetable powder butterfly is called the most beautiful butterfly in the world, native to Europe, these butterflies have strong reproductive ability, tenacious viability, and a large number, except for Antarctica, which are distributed in the world; The larvae feed on cabbage as a staple.
8. European map butterflies European map butterfly butterflies, the intricate pattern of black and brown on their wings is very similar to the map, which is the origin of their name; Although they have six legs, the first two legs are too short to be used for walking on the back four legs; They feed mainly nettles.
9. Orange pointed-winged pink butterfly is a close relative of the vegetable pink butterfly, the male butterfly wings are orange-yellow, and the female butterfly wings are gray and white; Orange pointed-winged butterflies feed on cabbage, but the larvae hatch very cruelly, and they will eat their own kind before eating plants.
10. Eye butterfly The eye butterfly is dull in color, is a close relative of the dusk brown butterfly, and has a large body; Caterpillars are green when they are used as a protective color, which is very effective in grass; They lay eggs on grass and can even lay eggs in flight; This butterfly wing has eye points, which is the origin of the name, in fact, these eye points are used to warn birds and other natural enemies, but unfortunately the eye points are too small to startle, but become bait, if the birds go to peck these eye spots, the eye butterflies will take the opportunity to escape.
11. Peacock Butterfly Unlike other butterflies, peacock butterflies can protect themselves with the help of spots on their wings and survive by hibernating overwintering; They lay eggs on nettles and feed on flowers.
12. Copper-colored small gray butterfly The copper-colored small gray butterfly is a close relative of the great blue butterfly, and the caterpillar is green with white and red dots; They are herbivores, feeding on sorrel leaves, sorrel, etc.; The copper-colored small gray butterfly has a strong reproductive ability, and can reproduce 3-4 generations a year, so the number is large.
13. Butterfly Butterfly family has the largest butterfly in the world, extremely precious; There are many colors of bands and spots on the wings, which are very characteristic; They lay their eggs on the leaves of the plant, and after pupating, there is a silk attached to the leaves, and the larvae will eat a certain range of leaves; Butterflies live mainly in warmer parts of the world.
14. Big Blue Glitter Butterfly The male wings of the big blue glitter butterfly are blue and will sparkle when flying in the rainforest, which is very beautiful. The 50 species of blue glitter butterflies in the world all live in the tropical regions of the Americas, and their blue flashes are due to the fact that the scales on the wings of butterflies have many protrusions, which have a wonderful reflective effect and are generally shiny blue; Unfortunately, the female's wings are very light blue and not shiny enough.
15. Small ramie red butterfly The small ramie butterfly is good at flying, they often fly between Europe and the United States, and even fly to the north of the Arctic Circle, in order to find food for future generations; The small ramie red butterfly lays eggs on plants such as thistle, nettle and marshmallow, and the caterpillars are black-yellow, with thorns on their bodies, and often hide in the leaves foraging; They migrate like migratory birds to escape the winter cold, and many freeze to death on the way to migration, but ensure the reproduction of the group.
16. Turtle shell pattern small butterfly Turtle shell pattern small butterfly is divided into orange and red two kinds, widely distributed in Europe, their eggs are laid on nettle and other plants, caterpillars live in groups of cocoons.
17. Purple Butterfly Purple butterfly is a very beautiful kind of butterfly, their male insects are aggressive by nature and often fight in the woods; They prefer to feed on willow leaves; The head has a pair of horns and is a weapon against predators.
18. Red-striped Butterfly The wings of the red-striped butterfly have black and white red patterns, and the color is very bright, which is also the origin of their name. Their eggs are laid in the lower part of nettle, and caterpillars also feed on nettle; Their caterpillars are black and like to make tents out of nettle leaves to protect themselves, and the brown and yellow spikes of caterpillars are also a weapon for protecting themselves. In autumn, adult butterflies fly over the meadows in search of nectar and the juice of ripe rotting plant fruits to feed themselves.
In addition to the above butterflies, there are many rare butterflies waiting to be discovered.