Gif Picture: butterfly

butterfly

Any of several thousand lepidopteran species belonging to about six families and found worldwide. Unlike moths, butterflies are usually bright or strikingly colored and are active during the day. Distinctive features are its club-tipped antennae and its habit of holding its wings vertically over its back when at rest. The larvae and adults of most species are plant eaters. The metalmarks (family Riodinidae) are found chiefly in the New World tropics; members of the family Libytheidae are called snout butterflies. Other species (with their families) include the white and sulphur butterflies (Pieridae), the swallowtail butterfly (Papilionidae), the blue, copper, and hairstreak butterflies (Lycaenidae), and the admiral, monarch, and painted lady (Nymphalidae).