I
Any of more than 17,000 lepidopteran species found worldwide.
Unlike moth s, butterflies are active during the day and are usually brightly coloured or strikingly patterned. Distinctive features are club-tipped antennae and a habit of holding the wings vertically over the back when at rest. With few exceptions the larvae and adults eat plants. Butterflies are classified into five or six families. The metalmarks of the family Lycaenidae are found chiefly in the New World tropics; some members of the family Nymphalidae are called snout butterflies. Other species (with their families) include the white and swallowtail butterfly (Papilionidae), the blue , copper , and hairstreak butterflies (Lycaenidae), and the admiral , monarch , and painted lady (Nymphalidae).
II
[c mediumvioletred] (as used in expressions)
butterfly bush
admiral butterfly
blue butterfly
butterfly weed
cabbage butterfly
copper butterfly
monarch butterfly
sulphur butterfly
sulfur butterfly
{{link=swallowtail butterfly">swallowtail butterfly
white butterfly