Welcome to Dave McCormick's Moth and Butterfly World. This part has interesting things you may or may not know about various moth or butterfly species

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Interesting Moths

Owl Moth Defence: The Owl Moth (Brahmaea Wallichii) rest on tree trunks mainly during the day. If attacked, it rocks back and fourth rather than flying off. We have no image of one yet.

Biggest Moth in the World: The biggest moth in the world is the Atlas Moth (Attacus Atlas) with a wingspan of 15.9-30cm, but the moth with the widest wingspan is the Giant Agrippa or White Witch (Thysania Agrippina) which is 20-30cm. We have no images yet.

Burnet Moths: Burnet moths of the family Zygaenidae have an unusual trick to stop predators eating them. Not sure about all species, but the ones in Europe contain Hydrogen Cyanide in their bodies and they do not get that from the food plant they eat and no one knows where it comes from. Sometimes you can see the moths extruding their toxins onto leafs. We have no image yet.

Sunset Moths:

The sunset moths of the family Uraniidae are the most brightest and most beautiful of all moths. They are mainly day flying, the night fliers being more duller. The moths have tails and look like butterflies. They have usually blackish wings with bright metallic colours and feed on the plants of the family Omphalea and this can make them poisonous.  The above image is of Lyssa zampa, a duller coloured sunset moth.

Micro Moths: Not all people regard the tiniest moths in the world, the micro moths as anything special. As I have noticed, they can be just as beautiful and important as any of the larger ones. Many feed on detritus and bits of rotting wood and plants and this can help to break them up in the wild. Others feed on wool and bits of birds nests and this can help break them up too. Some of the small moths like nectar from flowers and as I have observed, they burrow into the plant to get it as they are so small. They then get covered in pollen and transfer that to next plant.

Others are pests, but some are bright coloured and have very interesting looks. If you have a good camera that can take great closeup shots of them, you will be able to see this.

Interesting Butterflies

Blue Butterflies: Butterflies of the blues family Lycaenidae, not all, but quite a few rely on ants. Some, what happens is, they, as a young caterpillar, feed on their food plant until they grow a little bigger. Then they fall to the ground and emanate a scent and sometimes a sound that makes them act like a ant grub, so the ants take it back to their nest and look after it as if it were one of their own. Then in about two years, they emerge as adults and fly away.

Blue Morpho: Blue Morpho (Morpho Menelaus) is a butterfly that flies fast and is hard to catch. Some have used a blue cloth and waved that in front of them and they seem to chase it. Not sure if this works for all morpho species.

Peacock Butterfly:

The Peacock Butterfly (Inachis Io) shown above, is a butterfly that is unique. There is no other like it in the world, as far as we know. To defend itself, when attacked, or disturbed, it flicks its wings open and shut and shows the eyespots on its wings. Not only that, it makes a rasping/hissing sound by rubbing the scales of its wings together when it opens and closes its wings to scare of predators.

Map Butterfly: The European Map Butterfly (Araschnia Levana) is a butterfly that is unique in the differences in each brood. In spring, the upperside is orange with black marks and slight white. In summer its black with white lines and traces of orange. If there is a autumn brood, its colours are mix of the two broods.

Queen Alexandra's Birdwing: This is the largest species of butterfly in the world. The Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera Alexandrae) has a wingspan of 17-28cm, making the female of this species, the largest butterfly in the world.

Dragontails:

There is, only two species of butterfly like this in the world. They are called "dragontails" and are unique. They look like a cross between dragonflies and butterflies and they resemble dragonflies in flight. The two species are the Green Dragontail (Lamproptera Meges) which is shown above and the White Dragontail (Lamproptera Curius) which is similar to above, but has white markings instead of green.

These two species have very rapid wing beats when they fly. And, unlike most butterflies, hover when feeding and beat their wings even when resting.

Page last edited: 23/09/2008 19:32