How can you tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth
蝶と蛾を区別するには、その触角を考えてみましょう。蝶は、こん棒状の触角を持っていますが、蛾は羽状または、ノコギリ状の触角を持っています。 蝶は羽を垂直に折り、一般的により大きく、鮮やかな羽のパターンを示しますが、ガはくすんだ色の羽を暫定的に保持します。 蛾は羽を連結するための小帯（ひだ）を持っていますが、蝶にはそれがありません。 蝶は主に昼行性ですが、蛾は通常夜行性です。 蛾は絹で覆われた繭を作りますが、蝶は硬くて滑らかな蛹（さなぎ）を形成します。 しかし、新種が発見されると、その区別は曖昧になります。 たとえば、ウラニアレベルのようないくつかの蛾は蝶に似ています。(English) To differentiate between butterflies and moths, consider their antennae: butterflies have club-shaped antennae, while moths have feathery or saw-edged ones. Butterflies fold their wings vertically, are generally more significant, and display vibrant wing patterns, whereas moths hold drab-coloured wings tentatively. Moths possess a frenulum for wing coupling, which butterflies lack. Butterflies are mainly diurnal, while moths are typically nocturnal. Moths create silk-covered cocoons, while butterflies form hard, smooth chrysalides. However, distinctions blur as new species are discovered. For instance, some moths, like the Urania levels, resemble butterflies.
How can you tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth?
1)
Answer
One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth is to look at the antennae. A butterfly's antennae are club-shaped with a long shaft and a bulb at the end. A moth's antennae are feathery or saw-edged.
Butterflies and moths have many things in common, including scales that cover their bodies and wings. These scales are modified hairs. Butterflies and moths belong to Lepidoptera (from the Greek lexis meaning scale, and pteron, meaning wing).
2)
Here are some other ways that help to identify butterflies and moths:
Wings
Butterflies tend to fold their wings vertically up over their backs. Moths tend to hold their wings tentatively, hiding their abdomen.
Butterflies are typically giant and have more colourful patterns on their wings. Moths are typically smaller with drab-coloured wings.
Anatomy
Moths have a frenulum, which is a wing-coupling device. Butterflies do not have frenulums. Frenulums join the forewing to the hind wing so that the wings can work in unison during flight.
Behaviour
Butterflies are primarily diurnal, flying in the daytime. Moths are generally nocturnal, flying at night. However, some diurnal moths, such as the buck moth, and there are crepuscular butterflies, meaning they fly at dawn and dusk.
Cocoon/Chrysalis
Cocoons and chrysalides are protective coverings for the pupa. The pupa is the intermediate stage between the larva and the adult. A moth makes a cocoon, which is wrapped in a silk covering. A butterfly makes a chrysalis, which is hard, smooth and has no silk covering.
As scientists discover and study new species of butterflies and moths, distinctions between the two are becoming blurred. Some moths may fool you into thinking they are butterflies, such as the Urania leilus, a colourful day-flying moth from Peru.
The Castnioidea moths, found in the neotropics, Indonesia, and Australia, exhibit many of the characteristics of butterflies, such as brightly coloured wings, clubbed antennae and day flying.
3)
More fascinating facts about butterflies and moths.
There are many more species of moths than butterflies. Butterflies and skippers (hooked-shaped antennae) make up 6 to 11 per cent of the Lepidoptera order, while moths make up 89-94 per cent of the Lepidoptera order.
It is not true that if you touch a butterfly's wing and the 'powder' rubs off that the butterfly will not be able to fly. The powder is tiny scales, and a butterfly sheds these 'scales' throughout its lifetime.
Butterflies and moths are holometabolous, meaning they undergo a complete metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar and from chrysalis to adult.
4)
The most giant known butterflies in the world are the birdwings. The Queen Alexandra Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) from the rain forests of Papua New Guinea has a wingspan of 11 inches. It is the rarest of all butterflies.
The Goliath birdwing (Ornithoptera goliath), also from Papua NeGuinea's rain forests, is one of the giant butterflies with an average wingspan of 11 inches.
5)
The smallest known butterflies are the blues (Lycaenidae) in North America and Africa. They have wingspans from 1/4 – 1/2 inches. Western Pygmy Blue is the smallest.
The most common butterfly is the Cabbage White found in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, and Hawaii.
6)
The most giant known moths are the Atlas (Saturniidae), with wingspans as large as 12 inches.
The smallest known moths are from the pygmy moth family (Nepticulidae), with wingspans as small as 3/32 of an inch.
How can you tell the difference between a butterfly and a moth?
Mexico | Mystical Migration of the Monarch Butterfly with Cable Natural History Museum
About this trip
One of the superb phenomena in nature is the annual migration of Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) southward from their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada to overwintering sites high in the mountains of southern Mexico. Hundreds of millions of Monarchs fly along the Gulf Coast or across the Gulf of Mexico to eventually reach the belt of high volcanic mountains stretching across the southern end of the central Mexican plateau. At about a dozen isolated places within the high-altitude forests of this zone, Monarchs pass the winter in aggregations that can exceed 2 billion individual butterflies. Join Cable Natural History Museum on a 7-day journey to witness this awe-inspiring spectacle firsthand as the monarchs flutter, dip, and swoop overhead.