Butterflies and Moths

Butterfly's and moth's wings are made of chitin, similar in function to keratin. Keratin is what hair and nails are made of and is much more flexible than the chitin that makes up the scales and exoskeleton of insects.

Wikimedia Commons / Paweł Wałasiewicz

Spread Your Wings

Butterflies and moths are in the same order, Lepidoptera, which means scale-wing. The intricate patterns and brilliant colors on their wings are created by tiny, layered scales. These scales are actually completely translucent. As light is absorbed or bounced off the scales, brilliant colors appear.

Moth or Butterfly?

A common question about these insects is, how can you tell a moth from a butterfly?

• Usually, moths have wider, furrier bodies, while butterflies have a slender, wasp-like bodies.
• Moths have large feathery antennae. Butterflies’ antennae are thin and often end with a small knob.
• Most moths fly at night, which is one reason they’re a favorite food for many bats. All butterflies are active during the day, especially when it’s sunny out.
• You are likely to find moths & butterflies on or near flowers. You might also find them on the ground: they can’t live on nectar alone. They also need salts and minerals, which they often suck up from mud and damp earth.

Habitat

You can find moths and butterflies everywhere in Great Falls, from the open meadow like areas near the picnic area, to the forest along our hiking trails. These insects rely on flowers from which they drink nectar. Some also need one specific plant for their caterpillars to eat. For example, zebra swallowtail caterpillars feed only on PawPaw leaves, compared to the silvery checkerspot caterpillars which feed on several plants.

 

Shelter during the winter is important too: from deep layers of leaf litter in the forest, to crevices in stone walls or under loose tree bark. Some butterflies and moths are in pupa during the winter, others in caterpillar or even adult phase.

Wikimedia Commons: by Cyanocorax

Life Cycle

Both moths and butterflies metamorphose, or transform, through four stages from egg to caterpillar to pupa to adult.

Once the caterpillars reach their final instar, they seek out a safe place to pupate.

Moths build a cocoon, either by spinning silk webbing around themselves or by pulling leaves into a shelter. Butterflies molt directly into a whole new shell. A butterfly’s pupa is known as a chrysalis, and can be well camouflaged or beautifully patterned depending on the species.

In their pupae, moths and butterflies rearrange their cells to turn from the wormlike larva into a winged adult. The time this takes varies; some are as quick as a few weeks, others take several months. Many moths and butterflies in our area overwinter in their pupal phase, essentially halting transformation for several months. Interrupting their cycle like this is known as diapause.

Ecosystem Role

Moths and butterflies lay many eggs on their preferred hostplant. Some species even lay 100 eggs per individual female! The vast quantities mean that birds can eat all the caterpillars they want. In fact, over thousands of years, many bird species have timed their spring migration to coincide with insects emerging. If climate change alters the insects’ timing, or even worse wipes out whole species, it could drastically affect all the birds who normally feed them to their chicks.

 

Did You Know?

Some moths don’t eat at all once they’ve metamorphosed into their adult form. Silk Moths, like the Cecropia, don’t even have mouthparts! They eat everything they need as caterpillars. It’s a short life as an adult silk moth—just long enough to mate and lay eggs. 

 

Explore More!

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  Flutter around GWMP with the

  Butterfly Checklist!

  Use the checklist to keep track of all the butterflies you can see around the parkway!

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  Species Spotlight!

  Dive into the lore of the Cecropia moth.

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  Discoveries at the Bug Lab

  Learn more about the research being done on insects along the parkway!