On Painted Wings

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They are neither made of butter nor are they flies. Worldwide, there are approximately 28,000 species. Some are the size of a teacup, while others so tiny they can fit on the head of a tack. North America is home to 725 varieties, and Virginia hosts almost 150. Many know no borders. For all the ones you see and can identify, a host of others are rarely seen or recognized. Meet Lepidoptera, whose family includes butterflies and moths, and whose name means they have wings covered with scales.

The Anglo-Saxons used the word ‘butterfloege’ to describe their most common butterfly, the Yellow Brimstone. The name traveled to the British Isles and later to the American colonies. What began as a visual description took on negative connotations during those dark, superstitious sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in parts of America. People claimed that at night witches turned into winged creatures and stole their butter. In other cultures, the butterfly’s name meant ‘licker of milk’ and milk thief.

The ancient Greeks were kinder, calling them ‘Psyche’ or soul, and many cultures still believe that when we die, our souls rise to Heaven as butterflies. In France they are called Papillion. Those famous French parking tickets, printed on large pieces of yellow paper, are also called ‘papillion’, as they flutter and flap in the wind like a large, yellow butterfly. Throughout the ages, butterflies, moths, and their Hesperiidae cousin the skipper, have been loved, revered, and feared.

Butterfly colors come from every spectrum imaginable. The colors are determined by the layering and overlapping of its scales, which creates a dusty or powdery look. These colors offer a variety of advantages, from camouflage to warning off predators. Some are ultraviolet, detectable only by other butterflies. The darkened areas in the wing patterns and veining are referred to as melanism, which assists in thermal regulation. The wing veins are hollow tubes through which blood flows, creating a micro topography that helps repel water.

Lepidoptera scales have helped scientists in determining just how long butterflies and moths have been on the planet. In 2017, scientists found fossilized butterfly scales, the size of a speck of dust, inside a chunk of ancient rock from Germany. The findings push back their existence at least 200 million years. Using acid to dissolve the rocks, they found perfectly preserved remains that belonged to a group of Lepidoptera whose descendants are still alive today.

Once believed to evolve and co-exist with flowering plants, and whose proboscis or tongue was designed to gather nectar and pollen, butterflies may have instead fed upon the sugary nectar of Jurassic gymnosperm plants, such as conifers that dominated the planet. Unlike many species, Lepidopterans survived the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic, and clues indicate butterflies and moths thrived worldwide on every continent except Antarctica.

Moth species outnumber butterflies 16 to1. Butterflies are typically more colorful, and while most butterflies are active during the day, most but not all moths are mostly active at night. It’s their antennae that often help differentiate the two. Leps (as they are commonly called by biologists) use their antennae for both smelling and feeling. Butterfly antennae are straight and thin, ending in a bulb or ball on the tips. Moths have simple tapered filaments or complicated feather-like affairs with numerous filaments. Skippers have straight antennae that curve like a fishhook. 

Like so many other pollinators, Leps are in danger. Although new species are being discovered regularly, many more species face extinction due to habitat loss and insecticides. As wildflower meadows and diversified farms are replaced by urban sprawl and monoculture, and genetically modified crops produce their own insecticides, Lep habitat continues to shrink.

Whether you live in a rural or developed locale, you can do many things to help butterflies beat the odds. Butterflies require color and fragrance from flowers that produce pollen and nectar. Ponds, woods, even mud can make your space butterfly friendly.

With both simple and compound eyes, butterflies can see the colors red, green, and yellow. This makes plants like azaleas, buddleia, coneflower, bee balm, yarrow, coreopsis, dianthus, alyssum, cosmos, impatiens, marigolds, nasturtium, sage, parsley, and zinnia particularly appealing. Plan in advance to ensure you have flowers blooming spring through fall, guaranteeing an endless source of food to attract them to your garden.

Some butterflies are plant species-specific and will only use one type of host plant on which to reproduce. Monarchs select only milkweed, a plant that has been heavily eradicated as a noxious weed. Milkweed is one such plant and, as it has been eliminated, the number of Monarchs has declined. Zebra Longwings prefer passionflowers. Other butterflies enjoy a wide variety of host plants.

Metamorphosis

Regardless the species, their stories all begin with a hungry caterpillar that has just emerged from its egg. The tiny larva immediately begins to stuff itself with leaves, feeding day after day, around the clock, slowly growing. When they’ve outgrown their current skin, they molt. After five molts, the larva stops feeding, hangs upside down from a twig or leaf, and either spins a silky cocoon or molts into a shiny chrysalis. Inside its encapsulation, a remarkable transformation takes place.

Cells in the larva’s muscles, stomach, and salivary glands are digested, each cell programmed to self-destruct via enzymes called caspases. The caspases destroy the cells’ proteins, releasing butterfly-making material. Once the caterpillar has disintegrated all its tissues except for its imaginal discs, these discs use the protein-rich soup surrounding them to form the wings, antennae, legs, eyes, and all the other features of an adult butterfly or moth.

Metamorphosis isn’t just a display of physical transformation, but also a stunning display of evolution at work. No other creatures look or behave so differently as caterpillars and butterflies, morphing from a creature that crawls to one that soars; co-existing rather than competing within the same ecosystem. The day arrives when the butterfly breaks forth, spreads its wings and soars, to begin the cycle again.

What Are They?

Flip through a field guide about butterflies, and your head fairly spins with the sheer number of species and sub-species. Here are few of the most common butterflies you are likely to encounter in your garden.

The large and showy Swallowtails and Parnassians are often the first butterflies spotted in the garden. Its most notable feature is the club-like projection extending from its hind wing. These are used as decoys to thwart attacks, the thin bobbing tail mimicking an insect to avian predators. One snatch and all the bird has caught is a bit of wing. The Eastern Tiger, Eastern Black, Zebra, Spicebush, Giant, and Pipevine are all regional favorites. The Eastern Tiger is Virginia’s state butterfly.

The Brush-footed includes favorites like the Monarch and its look-alike, the Viceroy. Brush-footed prefer pastures and sunny gardens. All are powerful fliers. Monarchs that emerge near the Autumnal Equinox begin their spectacular migration from Canada and the US to Mexico. Some of the most colorful are Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Buckeye, and Baltimore Checkerspot.

The Gossamers are often overlooked. Small, delicate, and drab compared to the showier varieties, these are often the very first butterflies to emerge from winter’s sleep. The caterpillars of the Blues and Coppers produce a honeydew liquid from glands on their back, which attract ants that in turn protect the larvae from predators. The American Copper, Hairstreaks, and Spring Azures enjoy early bloomers like dogwood and lilacs.

All the yellow butterflies are called Sulphurs and often linger longest in our fall gardens. These bits of airborne sunlight are easy to spot, regardless of size. Drawn to home gardens to feed on nectar-rich flowers, they prefer to lay their eggs in weeds and field grasses. As a group they are commonly referred to as yellow Sulphurs, regardless of the variegation.

Those small white butterflies seen gathered in groups around a puddle or pond shoreline are simply called Whites. These will often visit your vegetable gardens, as they are rather fond of Brussel sprouts, broccoli, and other vegetables. The Cabbage White’s caterpillar stage is quite often referred to as a cabbage worm, a misnomer for what is truly a prolific butterfly. Introduced into Quebec in 1860, a single butterfly escaped its captors, and its descendants have now spread across all of North America.

Skippers are often mistaken for moths; small, hardy, hairy, and not very colorful. Their habit of resting with their wings open adds to the moth misconception. Named for their flight pattern that resembles a stone skipping across the water, it’s most often seen bouncing along the fringe of a clearing. Regional gardeners often see this green caterpillar, sprinkled with yellow and black dots and large brown head, playing havoc in our vegetable gardens.

The Harvester and Snout butterflies are rare, with only one of each species living in North America. Rather than laying its eggs on a host plant like other butterflies, Harvester eggs are placed singly inside a colony of wooly aphids, the larvae’s favorite food. Snouts, as their name implies, have overdeveloped mouth parts.

A butterfly’s life span is brief; just 2-14 days (although a few can live almost a year). During its brief existence, its beneficial pollination has ensured plant diversification, and its visual manifestations have delighted millions who have discovered the world of Lepidoptera.