Butterfly how many feet

This is fairly close to reality, since moths make up nearly all species in the Lepidoptera — butterflies are essentially just a very specialized group of day-flying moths, and they make up only a tiny part of the Lepidoptera! Then imagine that one of these groups just one of them! What would you call this group? The answer is: butterflies! As you can see, moths and butterflies are very closely connected, more so than most people realize.

So, what is the difference? How do you tell them apart? The most reliable way to tell butterflies apart from moths is to look at their antennae. The antennae, or feelers, are found on the head just above the eyes. The antennae are not fuzzy or feathery, but look more like wire. Butterflies hold their antennae out and forward, where they are easy to see.

In contrast, moth antennae left tend to be thicker in the middle and get thinner towards the ends, appearing to taper to a point. Moth antennae are feather-like, covered in projections or teeth that make them look like a feather or comb. For some moths this is very obvious, but for others the feathery parts are very short and hard to see.

Unlike butterflies, some moths tuck their antennae alongside their bodies when they are resting, but many hold their antennae out like butterflies do. The Eight Spotted Forester Alypia octomaculata left is colourful, has wire-like antennae, and flies during the day — but it is actually a moth! Welcome back! Ask our Naturalist! Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. Anatomy Butterfly vs. Parts of a Butterfly All insects, including butterflies, share a common overall body design.

On the head, you will find: Antennae singular: Antenna Attached at the top of the head. On the thorax, you will find: Six Legs These are attached to the underside of the thorax. Four Wings Although it may appear at first glance that butterflies only have two wings, if you have a closer look it becomes obvious that each side of the body has a forewing and a hindwing.

Pigmented scales get their colours from pigment chemicals they contain, which absorb some light and reflect the rest. Over time, pigment scales can fade, because eventually the pigment chemicals break down. This is why some butterflies fade when kept in collections that are exposed to light. Diffractive scales get their colours by diffracting light, a similar effect to using a prism to split white light into a rainbow.

Diffractive scales give off brilliant metallic and iridescent colours, and do not fade over time because they have no pigment chemicals to break down. Once again, click on the picture to get a bigger and clearer image. So why don't the Nymphalidae use their front two legs? There doesn't seem to be a clear and obvious answer. It isn't because they're small butterflies and therefore don't need the extra support - Nymphalidae are all fairly large and common across the world.

In some species the tiny front legs have little brushes and hairs that the butterflies can use to sense smell and taste which is why they have the nickname of "brush-footed butterflies" , so it might be that the Nymphalidae have decided to use two of their legs to improve signalling and communication, and spend the rest of the time where they're not flying balancing on just four.

Butterfly numbers will start to drop as the autumn properly kicks in, so it's back to the regularly scheduled bacteria for the next post. The views expressed are those of the author s and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

A biochemist with a love of microbiology, the Lab Rat enjoys exploring, reading about and writing about bacteria. Having finally managed to tear herself away from university, she now works for a small company in Cambridge where she turns data into manageable words and awesome graphs.

Follow S. Gould on Twitter. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. This is handy for when they are resting or in diapause over winter. The front two legs are smaller and kept tucked away.

This group is called the Nymphalidae, and is one of the biggest groups of butterflies, containing 6, species. These butterflies are also known as the brush-foot butterflies because in many species the two smaller legs can be brush-like.

Painted ladies are one of the brush-foot butterflies. The reason for these butterflies having two smaller legs is currently unclear but may be beneficial for the butterflies to use them for signalling.

They have also been know to use these fluffy feet for grooming. Butterflies often perch on vegetation in order to feed on flowers or to rest.

A Picture for Pinterest. As well as those species who have developed a set of smaller legs butterflies have a history of getting a little legless. Their caterpillars start life with many more legs than the adults they become, but these are largely unjointed legs rather true legs. Throughout their lives, butterflies will always have three sets of jointed legs.

A butterflies wings may be the first thing we notice, but without their handy legs to cling onto the vegetation while their new wings unfurl these insects would never get off the ground.