LEPIDOPTERAN

White admiral butterfly (Basilarchia, or Limenitis, arthemis), a common North any member of the insect order Lepidoptera, which, with as many as 100,000 species, is second in size only to the Coleoptera, the beetles. In addition to the familiar butterflies and moths the order includes the skippers, a worldwide group intermediate between butterflies and moths. Because of their dayflying habits and bright colours (see photograph), the butterflies are more familiar than the chiefly night-flying and dull coloured moths, but the latter are far more varied and abundant. With the exception of a few moths, all adult Lepidoptera have two pairs of wings. The name Lepidoptera is derived from the Greek, meaning scaly winged, and refers to the characteristic covering of microscopic, dustlike scales on the wings. The life cycle of Lepidoptera is that common to the higher orders of insects and consists of four stages: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult (imago). The larva and adult are almost invariably plant eaters. The larvae do most of the eating, the majority of them feeding on foliage, although many species eat stems, roots, fruits, or flowers. A number of moths and a few butterflies are important pests in agriculture or forestry, invariably as larvae. The adults of many species are important pollenizers, visiting flowers for nectar. In the ecology of most land environments the Lepidoptera are important as transformers of immeasurably large amounts of plant matter into animal matter, which then serves as food for many other groups of animals. Many members of the order, especially the butterflies, have appealed to the human imagination for thousands of years, as symbols of fragile and ephemeral beauty. References to them abound in literature; and they have been depicted in many paintings, have inspired the designs of jewelry, ornaments and textiles, and even occur in many heraldic devices and on postage stamps. They are the most popular of insects among amateur collectors and students of natural history. a member of the insect order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies, the moths, and the skippers. They are among the most familiar and easily recognizable insects and have long been popular objects of study and collecting. The order contains over 100,000 species, making it the second largest of the insect orders. The name Lepidoptera, derived from Greek words meaning scaly wing, in reference to the dusting of minute scales that covers the wings and body, was first applied by Linnaeus in 1735. The order Lepidoptera is divided into three suborders: the Zeugloptera, which includes only a few scattered species; the Monotrysia, which includes the swifts and ghost moths (family Hepialidae), midget moths (Nepticulidae), and fairy moths (Incurvariidae); and the Ditrysia, which includes flannel moths (Megalopygidae), clothes moths (Tineidae), bagworms (Psychidae), ermine moths (Yponomeutidae), leaf roller moths (Tortricidae), silkworm moths (Bombycidae), tent caterpillar moths (Lasiocampidae), regal moths (Citheroniidae), measuring worm moths (Geometridae), hawk or sphinx moths (Sphingidae), tiger moths (Arctiidae), tussock moths (Liparidae), the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea), and the true butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea). The moths, by far the most numerous of the Lepidoptera, are in general stoutly built, dull coloured, and nocturnal in habit. Butterflies are diurnal and are frequently brightly coloured. Skippers occupy a position intermediate between the moths and the butterflies; they are also diurnal. Lepidopterans, being nearly all phytophagous (plant-eating), are present wherever plants are, and thus are found on every continent except Antarctica. Some families are cosmopolitan, while others are found only in certain restricted areas. In part this is due to the tendency of many species to feed upon only one type of plant, so that it is confined to those habitats suited to that plant. Many types of lepidopteran, including hawk moths and a few types of butterflies, migrate from one region to another. Some have crossed thousands of miles of ocean to populate remote islands in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. The only species to make a true migrationa two-way flight by the same individualsis the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) of North America. Every fall the entire monarch population of North America migrates southward to a high mountain ridge in Mexico, whence they return in spring. The body of a lepidopteran, like those of all insects, is composed of three basic regions; head, thorax, and abdomen. The head is small and features two well-developed compound eyes and often also a pair of simple eyes (ocelli). The antennae are prominent and segmented; in moths they are tapered and frequently branched or feathered, while in skippers and butterflies they end in clublike knobs. Smell, taste, and hearing are highly developed in various species. The mouth parts are equipped for sucking only, by means of a slender, tubular proboscis, which is coiled up when not in use. In a few species, toothlike spines on the apex permit the proboscis to penetrate the skin of plants or the rind of fruits to reach the juices inside. In some species the mouth parts are reduced, and some lepidopterans do not eat at all when they reach adulthood. The thorax bears three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings. The forewings are longer and usually have a more pronounced apex, while the hindwings are smaller and rounder. The abdomen consists of 10 segments and contains the reproductive organs and other viscera. The females of nearly all species have two reproductive openings, one for copulation and the other for egglaying. A female may lay from a few to as many as a thousand or more eggs at a time. The eggs may be merely dropped on foliage, or the female may lay them carefully on the undersides of leaves or in covered masses. After the eggs hatch, development occurs in three stages. The larvae are known as caterpillars. This is a stage of active feeding; for some caterpillars the first meal is the remains of the shell from which they hatched. Caterpillars have chewing mouth parts rather than the sucking mouth parts of the adult forms, and they consume great quantities of plant tissue. At the end of this stage, in most species, a cocoon is spun to protect the insect during the pupal stage. During pupation the insect undergoes a complete metamorphosis; the adult features are developed at this time. Lepidopterans are an important element in many food chains. Both adult and larval forms of virtually every species serve as food for one or more predatorspiders, beetles, wasps, toads, lizards, bats, birds, and monkeys. Some adult forms are protected by repellent substances or toxins acquired when the larval forms fed on certain plants, such as the milkweeds favoured by monarch caterpillars. Many types of lepidopterans are pests and can cause severe damage to grain, cotton, or beet crops, various fabrics, and timber. Such damage is almost always caused by the larval form. On the other hand, lepidopterans play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and a few species are economically beneficial, notably those of the family Bombycidae, from which nearly all forms of silk are derived. Additional reading General works The literature on Lepidoptera is enormous and includes books and articles published in nearly all countries. The following gives a representative sample, including major works with extensive bibliographies.Lepidoptera, in A.D. Imms, Imms' General Textbook of Entomology, 10th ed. rev. by O.W. Richards and R.G. Davies, 2 vol. (1977); and Lepidoptera, in D.J. Borror, C.A. Triplehorn, and N.F. Johnson, An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. (1989), give a key to families of Lepidoptera in North America; E.B. Ford, Butterflies, 4th ed. (1977), and Moths, 3rd ed. (1972), are replete with details of natural history, ecology, physiology, and evolution, chiefly of British species; M. Hering, Biologie der Schmetterlinge (1926), covers life histories and ecology, particularly of European groups; A.B. Klots, The World of Butterflies and Moths (1957), covers natural history and ecology, with striking illustrations. See also P.J. Portier, La Biologie des Lpidoptres (1949), for many details of the biology; C.B. Williams, The Migration of Butterflies (1930); and F.A. Urquhart, The Monarch Butterfly (1960). Lepidopterorum Catalogus, published in many parts by various authors, is the definitive scientific listing of all genera and species, with bibliographies. Paul E.S. Whalley, Butterfly Watching (1980), for the general reader, discusses behaviour. Regional works (North America): P.R. Ehrlich et al., How to Know the Butterflies (1961), is an excellent handbook of the North American species; W.T.M. Forbes, Lepidoptera of New York and Neighboring States, 4 pt. (192360), is the definitive work for eastern North America for technical classification, especially larvae, life histories, and food plants; W.J. Holland, The Moth Book (1914, reissued 1968), and The Butterfly Book, new and thoroughly rev. ed. (1931, reissued 1955), are the long-time standards, with many colour illustrations; A.B. Klots, Field Guide to the Butterflies of North America, East of the Great Plains (1951, reissued 1979), covers all the species of butterflies and skippers of eastern North America, with much on life histories, biology, and ecology, with many illustrations. (Europe): The following are more or less local in scope, covering the butterflies and moths of various countries or regions: David Carter, Butterflies and Moths in Britain and Europe (1982); L.T. Ford, A Guide to the Smaller British Lepidoptera (1949); W. Forster and T.A. Wohlfahrt, Die Schmetterlinge Mitteleuropas, 5 vol. (195281); S. Hofmeyer, De Danske Ugler, 2nd ed. (1962); T.W. Langer, Nordens dagsommerfugle (1958); F. Nordstrom and E. Wahlgren, Svenska fjrilar, 2 vol. (1941); R. South, The Moths of the British Isles, rev. ed., 2 vol. (1939); A. Spuler, Die Schmetterlinge Europas und ihre Raupen, 4 vol. (190810); and M. Sturani, Vita delle farfalle (1947). (Other regions): A. Seitz et al. (eds.), Macrolepidoptera of the World (1906 ), English, French, and German editions, 16 vol. (14 Palaearctic, 58 American, 912 Indo-Australian, 1316 Ethiopian), was issued in parts, by many authors, with supplements; although out of date in much nomenclature and taxonomy, it is still the standard for most of the world for identification. The following are books covering specific regions giving many details about life histories and biologies and mostly illustrated very fully: D.A. Swanepoel, The Butterflies of South Africa: Where, When, and How They Fly (1953); G. Van Son, The Butterflies of Southern Africa, 4 vol. (194979); G.A. Waterhouse and G. Lyell, The Butterflies of Australia (1914); and M.A. Wynter-Blyth, Butterflies of the Indian Region (1957). Alexander B. Klots