Night and day butterflies.

Massage
Exactly
In ancient Japanese classics, the custom of letting a couple marry at a wedding was described for the first time.
live butterflies.
Buddhists treat butterflies with the deepest respect: after all, they are
Buddha spoke with his sermon.
Among Christians, the butterfly is sometimes depicted sitting on the hand of the infant Christ and

symbolizes the rebirth and resurrection of the soul.
Ancients
The Romans believed that butterflies were flowers that were blown by the wind.
The Slavs also believed: pure souls
angels fly to us like day butterflies to convey our

wishes to heaven. Peoples South-East Asia
treat with reverence
butterflies. Here they believe that seeing a butterfly in your home is lucky.
after all

it symbolizes all the best in a person's life.
In China, the groom still gives gifts before the wedding

living bride or
jade
a butterfly is a symbol of unchanging love.
Among the Aztecs, the butterfly was one of the attributes of the god of vegetation, spring and love.
Elves - air spirits who came to us from Scandinavian mythology, were depicted

in the form of beautiful little people with butterfly wings.
Evolutionary

the path of the butterflies
Butterflies are comparatively
a young group of insects. They appeared about 60 million years ago, much
later than cockroaches and dragonflies, as determined by fossil remains inside
amber. Some species have remained virtually unchanged since
the times of their ancestors. Scientists even distinguish small winged birds into a special suborder
primary toothed moths (Zeugloptera).
They are called primary because they stand at the origins of the evolutionary chain of butterflies.
Toothed - because, unlike most butterflies, whose mouthparts
transformed into a spiral proboscis for sucking nectar, small winged
they do not have a proboscis. They feed on pollen, literally chewing it with their mandibles.
(with teeth), as beetles or cockroaches do. More developed butterflies - leafrollers, fingerwings - have more complex structure
. To get
food for future caterpillars, they need to flutter between plants. That's why
Such moths fly better: they resist the wind more successfully and require less
swings to gain speed. This includes a variety of colors and all kinds of
spines and hairs covering the larvae. Open lifestyle, not limited
walls of the shelter, made it possible to increase the size of individuals many times over. So gradually
measured in centimeters.

Day and night butterflies

All butterflies are divided into day and night.
Day and night butterflies are unequal groups. Daytime
only about 20,000 species belonging to 15 families out of 80 included in
order of Lepidoptera. There are no clear differences between day and night butterflies.
The shape of the antennae is the only reliable
sign. All diurnal butterflies have a thickening or
mace, but this happens extremely rarely among nocturnal ones. Among all the nocturnal (different-whiskered)
Among European butterflies, only pied moths have club-shaped antennae, but these butterflies
differ well in shape and color from all others. Almost all day butterflies
when at rest, fold their wings vertically above the body, so that only the underside is visible
wings Moths at rest usually hold their wings flat above their body and
folds them so that the upper side of the wings is visible. Day butterflies like
As a rule, they are brightly colored and fly slowly, fluttering easily over the flowers. Moths
painted more modestly, in gray or brownish tones. Therefore, resting during the day on
It is very difficult to notice a moth on a tree trunk. Scoops are called large
part of the moths, which, at different sizes, have thick, densely pubescent
body and long bristle-like antennae. Noctuid sitting on a tree trunk during the day
folds its wings into a “house” and becomes almost invisible, merging with the color
bark. The cutworms fly out after sunset and feed on nectar and tree sap.

Butterflies in
human life

Who from
Haven't we admired the lovely butterflies fluttering from flower to flower? Ancients
No wonder they were called flying flowers - they are so beautiful. Many legends and
legends from different nations world is connected with these heavenly creatures. In Japan
They believe that seeing a butterfly in your home is lucky: butterflies symbolize
all the best in a person’s life, and a pair of butterflies means family happiness. IN
Indian legend says that if you whisper your wish to a butterfly and
release it, it will certainly come true.

And yet the most important thing is that they give us
butterflies, is a feeling of joy from admiring their amazing beauty and
variety. In them people find the harmony to which they strive all the time.
life, from childhood. And it is no coincidence that it is children who are most susceptible to
the fantastic beauty of butterflies, because these fluttering flowers create that feeling
secrets, which, according to the great physicist and amateur violinist Albert
Einstein, “lies at the origins of true art and true science.”

The largest and smallest butterflies

Attacus atlas is considered the largest butterfly in the world. IN
The wingspan of the butterfly reaches 25-30 cm, from a distance it can be mistaken for a bird.

The largest nocturnal butterfly is called
Ornithoptera alexandrae, a swallowtail from Papua New Guinea. Wingspan
females can exceed 280 mm
, and weight - more than 25 g
.

The smallest day butterfly - Zizula
hylax. The species is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Arabia,
tropical zone of Asia and Australia. The length of the baby's front wing is
only 6 mm

Unusual in butterflies

Why are butterflies like this?
beautiful?
- vision and color perception
butterflies are quite weak. Therefore, in order to be recognized by their relatives, they
should be as brightly colored as possible.
- predators are afraid of bright insects: brightly colored butterflies can
turn out to be poisonous or simply disgusting in taste. That's why this color
safer.
- an adult butterfly has one goal in life - to leave behind offspring,
so they just need to dress up nicely..

Winged meteorologists.
Adapting to diverse living conditions, butterflies have learned
anticipate weather changes.
Many people have probably seen hives break out a few hours before a thunderstorm.
In the event of a downpour, they are saved under branches, indoors, in tree hollows. Half an hour to an hour before
thunderstorms seek shelter in the rainforest forest. The famous entomologist J. A. Fabre
discovered synoptic abilities in caterpillars of the traveling pine silkworm,
which, before bad weather, did not leave their common nests for night feeding.
The caterpillars feed quite far from the nest, so strong wind and snow
threaten them with death. Fabre conducted research in Southern France (Provence). IN
January, during the coldest and most difficult period, pine silkworm caterpillars
become more responsive to weather changes. It was at this time, after another
When they molt, holes appear on their backs covered with delicate, colorless skin,
with the help of which the caterpillar detects changes in atmospheric pressure.

The butterfly fluttered sweetly
Sat down on a bright flower
Dipped in sweet nectar
Its tiny proboscis.

Wings - opened flowers -
I stand there admiring them.
I forgot about the toys
I don't sing the song anymore.

I'll stop screaming loudly
My brother is also silent.
I won't touch the butterfly -
Let him fly wherever he wants.

Butterfly.

Flying from shadow to light,
She herself is both shadow and light,
Where was she born like this?
Almost devoid of signs?
She flies, crouching,
She must be from China
There are no others like her here,
She's from those forgotten years
Where is the small drop of lazori
Like the blue sea in your gaze.

Arseny Tarkovsky

In a clearing by the river there once lived
moths.
Brothers are colorful, like candy wrappers!
And the second one is sky blue with white splashes, like frost.
The first is red, like a rowan, like a drop of ruby.
The third is yellow, like a lemon, inspired by the light of the sun.
And the fourth is snow-white, a delicate chamomile petal.
In the blue dots, the sixth brother, White-red-gold.
And the seventh is completely purple, only with a turquoise stripe.
Brother Eight is a little green, like a salty ocean.
And the ninth one has white dots, red diamonds and circles.
Brother tenth, all motley like confetti, fly to us!

Butterfly(folk
nursery rhyme)
Box butterfly,
Fly under the cloud.
Your kids are there
On a birch branch.
( cross the wrists of both hands and press the backs of your palms to each other
to a friend, fingers straight - the “butterfly” is sitting; palms straight and tense,
do not bend your fingers; with a light but sharp movement of the hands at the wrists, imitate
fly of butterfly)

Movable poems “Butterfly”

In the morning the butterfly woke up.
Smooth swings of the arms.

She stretched and smiled.
Perform movements

Once - she washed herself with dew.
Consistency with the text.

Two - she spun gracefully.

Three - she bent down and sat down.

At four, it flew away.

Movable
games.

Quantity
players: any Additional: nets, Balloons Participants receive
a large net on a long stick and balloon. The players' task is how
catch your opponent in the net as quickly as possible, trying not to “lose” the ball.

Tie a piece of paper cut out to a thread
butterfly Carry the butterfly in front of the faces of the children who are standing in a semicircle or in
circle. Children blow on a butterfly. The butterfly flies away from them. You need to start blowing
only when the butterfly is already in front of the child’s face.

Riddles about the beautiful inhabitant fields and meadows -
butterfly

It flutters and dances over the flower,
He waves a patterned fan.
Answer: butterfly.

Moved around the flower
All four petals.
I wanted to rip it off -
He took off and flew away.
Answer: butterfly.

The flower was sleeping and suddenly woke up -
I didn't want to sleep anymore.
He moved, he started,
He soared up and flew away.
Answer: butterfly.

In the morning it crawls
At noon, motionless
And in the evening it flies.
Answer: butterfly.

She was a worm
I just ate and slept.
Lost my appetite
You look - it flies across the sky.
Answer: butterfly.

On a large colored carpet
The squadron sat down -
It will open, then it will close
Painted wings.
Answer: butterfly.

Parable about a butterfly.

Once upon a time, gray-haired
There was only one sage in the world,
He gave an answer to any question,
To the one who came for advice

A neighbor lived next to him.
He envied the fame of the sage.
And he dreamed of asking him such a question,
So that wisdom does not find the desired answer.

I was once in a meadow and caught a butterfly,
And he squeezed it between his palms.
I decided: “Now I’ll ask him -
Am I holding a butterfly alive or dead?

And if he answers that the butterfly is alive,
I'll squeeze my palms a little tighter.
And if he says. that I'm holding it dead
Then I will immediately release the butterfly to freedom.

And soon he came to the sage with a butterfly,
Anticipating victory, I asked him a question.
The sage was brief in his words.
He answered: “EVERYTHING IS IN YOUR HANDS.”

1.2.5 Night and day butterflies

Many adult butterflies are active during the day, and at night they rest and sleep. These are daytime butterflies. More than once we admired blueberries, lemongrass, mourning grass, urticaria, peacock's eye, hawk moths and many other beauties, the names of which are unknown to us. Other large group butterflies, called nocturnal, fly at dusk and at night, and during the day they hide in secluded places. Among them are strong, nimble, fluffy, shaggy, average size or small creatures that unexpectedly fly into the light in the dark, noisily ram the light bulbs, bounce off them, do not fly away, but curl and beat against any surface, feverishly vibrating their wings at breakneck speed. When you try to catch them, they escape, leaving a myriad of scales in the form of gray dust on your hands. These are different scoops. Night butterflies include: moths, corydalis, cocoon moths, cutworms, hawkmoths, moths, bear moths and others.

1.2.6 Protection from predators

Methods of protection from predators are very diverse. A number of species have a foul odor and unpleasant taste, or are poisonous, all of which makes them inedible. Having tried such a butterfly once, predators will avoid similar look further.

Poisonous and inedible species often have a warning bright color. Butterflies, deprived of such means of protection, often mimic inedible species, imitating not only the color, but also the shape of the wings. This type Mimicry is most developed in Lepidoptera, and is called “Batesian”.

Some butterflies imitate wasps and bumblebees, for example, glass moths, bumblebee hawk moth, and scabious bumblebee. This similarity is achieved due to the coloring, body contours and structure of the wings - they are almost scaleless and transparent, the hind wings are shorter than the front ones, and the scales on them are concentrated on the veins.

Many species have a protective coloration, disguised as dry leaves, twigs, and pieces of bark. For example, the silver hole resembles a broken twig, the oakleaf cocoon moth resembles a dry birch leaf.

Unlike butterflies that are active during daylight hours, species that are active at dusk or at night have a different protective coloration. The upper side of their forewings is colored in the colors of the substrate on which they sit at rest. At the same time, their front wings fold along the back like a flat triangle, covering the lower wings and abdomen.

One type of repellent coloration is the “eyes” on the wings. They are located on the front or hind wings and imitate the eyes of vertebrates. In a calm state, butterflies with this coloration usually sit with their wings folded, and when disturbed, they spread their front wings and display frightening, brightly colored lower wings. In some species, large and very bright dark eyes with a white outline, similar to the eyes of an owl, are clearly visible.

Moths for protection against bats They have densely hairy bodies. The hairs help absorb and disperse ultrasonic signals from bats, thereby masking the moth's location. Many butterflies freeze when they detect a sonar signal bat. Ursa bears are capable of generating a series of clicks, which, according to some researchers, also prevent their detection.

2. Peculiarities of biology of individual representatives of this family in the Urals

2.1 Thistle

Thistle, or Thistle, is a diurnal butterfly from the nymphalidae family.

Description. The color above is light brick red with black spots forming a transverse band in the middle of the forewing, and white spots at the end of the forewings; the underside of the hind wings has dark and light streaks and 4-5 ocular spots (yellow with a blue core) in front of the edge. Spreading. It is more widespread than any other butterfly, as it is found in all parts of the world, with the exception of South America; in northern Europe it reaches Iceland. The caterpillar lives on thistles and artichokes. Fertilized females overwinter. Habitats and lifestyle. Butterflies are found everywhere where thistles and nettles grow; in the mountains they reach a height of 2000 m, but they still give preference to dry, sunny areas of the area - steppes, fields and meadows, avoiding dark forests. The burdock is a famous traveler who flies to Europe from North Africa in the spring and autumn, thistles gather in flocks and fly south: to Iran, India, and some to Africa.

2.2 Urticaria

The urticaria, also known as the chocolate butterfly, is a diurnal butterfly from the nymphalid family.

In early spring the hives are already flying. They overwinter as adult butterflies. And as soon as the sun warms up, they crawl out of various cracks and from under the bark. They fly a little, lay eggs and die. Caterpillars usually live on nettles.

Description. The Nettle butterfly is a commonly encountered daytime butterfly. Its color is brick red with black spots and a black border. This black border is decorated with bright blue spots. The length of its wing is 4-5 centimeters. The urticaria caterpillar is usually 5 centimeters long, the color is bright green, the underside of the caterpillar's abdomen is yellow and covered with black stripes. Its black hairy caterpillar feeds on nettle leaves, which grow in abundance in gardens, near houses, and in weedy places; it is because of the caterpillar’s addiction to this grass that the butterfly got its name “nettle.” The urticaria lays eggs on the underside of the leaf; the color of the eggs is yellow. The body length of the urticaria is usually up to 5-10 millimeters. The pupa belongs to the covered species. The mobility of the pupa is determined by the movements of its abdomen. The interesting thing is that it is almost impossible to distinguish the relatives of urticaria from each other.

Spreading. Today it can be found everywhere in Europe. The wren family includes more than five hundred species of butterflies and about 20 genera. The hives butterfly is a frequent visitor to almost all countries of the world.

Information about the work “Representatives of the class Insects - as objects of scientific and educational tourist routes. Order Lepidoptera, or Butterflies"

Night sisters of daytime butterflies

Unnoticed among the flowers, cirrhophane suddenly flies into the sky. It's definitely made from butter. The sun shines through its yellow wings lined with orange strokes. But this is not a day butterfly.

Epimenis is a black moth with a large red patch on the hindwing and a large white patch on the forewing.

During the day he feeds on wild grapes in the sun-dappled forests of the East North America. It is usually mistaken for a day butterfly. But that's not true.

The front wings of the bat called the lady bear are green with yellow speckles. The hind wings are scarlet, like a matador's cloak.

One Indian bat has a real carpet on its wings - green, black, orange and white, and even with a metallic blue tint.

One moth, leading a diurnal lifestyle, is similar in appearance to a swallowtail.

The other shimmers like a rainbow.

What is the difference between day and night butterflies, between butterflies and moths? Entomologists are already tired of answering this question. Hearing him, the entomologist, depending on his character, either sighs sadly or grimaces angrily.

In principle, both diurnal superfamilies (or, according to another classification, equine) butterflies - Papilionoidea (true day butterflies) and Hesperioidea (fatheads) - have characteristic features, distinguishing them from the majority higher variegated.

But sometimes the difference is so small that scientists are quite aware of how “unscientific” this division seems.

Entomologists have decided that approximately 11 percent of lepidopteran species (a total of 165 thousand of these species) should be considered diurnal or even-winged butterflies. Others in English are called moths - “moths” or “moths”. The vast majority of them are microlepidoptera, the creatures are predominantly small and primitive (in the sense that in the course of evolution they appeared earlier than daytime butterflies). From fifty to one hundred million years ago, from this overwhelming majority a group emerged macrolepidoptera- These are daytime butterflies and several families of nocturnal ones.

Day butterflies find each other, as well as food for themselves and food plants for future offspring, using vision. To communicate with friends and enemies, they use visual signals: colors, patterns...

Some scientists believe that butterflies were driven out into the sun by their enemies - bats; in other words, bats practically created daytime butterflies.

It is unclear how reliable this assumption is, but bats certainly influenced the evolution of moths. Bats make ultrasonic squeaks. This is their “radar signal”, which allows them to accurately detect insects flying in the night. In response, moths took their own countermeasures - their bodies are usually covered with hairs that scatter the locator signal. Some have also developed ultrasound-sensitive “ears” located on the wings, chest and abdomen. Hearing the approach of a bat, moth falls like a stone to the ground. Some moths themselves produce ultrasonic squeaking and clicking noises, perhaps to confuse the radar. However, it is quite possible that these sounds warn the bat: “Be careful, poison.” So to speak, the sound analogue of the coloring book of the inedible monarch.

Spiders also hunt for moths, spreading their webs in the path of insects that fly blindly in the darkness. But moths can literally slip out of a web, sacrificing their scales (they tear off their wings very easily). Spiders, in turn, learned to recognize by the trembling of the web who got into their web: a fly, a bee or a butterfly. In the latter case, they rush to bite the prey as quickly as possible before it gets out. Some spiders stretch their webs one above the other, constructing multi-tiered silk towers. Breaking upward, the butterfly gets caught in the net again and again until all the scales fall off: the bare wings get stuck in the web.

The nocturnal lifestyle means that the moth finds food and partners primarily by smell. Spiders take advantage of this too - they release a captivating stream of fake sex pheromones into the air. Males rush to the bait and fly straight onto the threads, lubricated with specially prepared glue of special viscosity.

Having switched to a diurnal lifestyle, the butterflies escaped these dangers, but found themselves face to face with new threat- a keen-sighted bird that distinguishes colors perfectly. And not all of them are considered real daytime ones: they are too cramped genetic connections some species remain with their nocturnal relatives.

The antennae are what most distinguishes a day butterfly from a night butterfly. In daytime butterflies, the antennae are thickened at the end like a club (hence the scientific name of daytime butterflies - club-whiskered). The antennae of moths can become thinner at the end or resemble saw teeth, a bird feather, a palm leaf... The main function of the antennae is to smell, and moths are famous for their sense of smell. These are the champions of instinct. Thanks to laboratory experiments, we know that male hawk moths can accurately identify almost any bouquet of odors that we can offer them. We know that the huge feathery antennae of the male peacock eye capture the female's pheromones in the most minute concentration (a thousand molecules - MOLECULES! - per cubic centimeter of air). It is known that the males of some bats can smell and track down a female from more than a mile away.

However, in the gloomy world of moths, females usually call males on their own initiative, releasing a special scent from a special gland on the abdomen. Females of different species send their chemical signals at certain hours “assigned” only to them under certain conditions in certain places. Males sit and wait for a signal, “straining” the air with their antennae. Sensing an alluring aroma, the male flies along this odorous trail, finds the female and emits his own chemical signal. Since the initiative belongs to the female, the matchmaking procedure usually does not last long and is done without unnecessary ceremony. Just like the act of mating.

The third way to distinguish daytime butterflies from nighttime ones is to take a closer look at the structure of the wings. In most moths, the front wings are connected to the hind wings using a kind of latch. In flight, it helps synchronize the movements of the wings. Daytime butterflies do not have such a device.

In addition, daytime butterflies tend to rest with their wings folded over their backs, and fly and bask in the sun with their wings spread parallel to the ground. Moths rest by folding their wings into a “house” or spreading them out. Eggs and caterpillars of moths also have their own character traits: location of pores, special gland on the neck, tufts of hairs...

But there are plenty of exceptions to the rules. Fatheads are diurnal butterflies, but they are small and faded, their wings are folded into a house, and their antennae, if thickened, are only the slightest. But moth moths are strewn with red specks, fly during the day, and their antennae are definitely club-shaped.

One group of butterflies - let's call them day-night- combines so many almost incompatible properties that they have only recently been classified as daylight. For example, the superfamily Hedyloidea, which lives in the tropical regions of the Western Hemisphere. They are mostly small and dull colored, they have “ears” on their wings - so they seem to be nocturnal? But night look Only some species of the family lead lives, and the rest are diurnal. Their antennae cannot be called club-shaped, but their eggs and caterpillars are exactly the same as those of daytime butterflies; and besides, they know how to weave silk belts, like day sailing ships.

Another family of day-night butterflies are larger tropical creatures. They fly primarily during the day, are garishly colored, and have club-shaped antennae; but their caterpillars correspond in every way to the standards of moths.

This family is not currently classified as diurnal.

Think about how many species of mammals there are in the world. Now - how many species of birds are there? Count the amphibians and reptiles. Don't forget the fish. Now add up all the results. So, there are even more species of moths and moths. In such a large group, a variety of adaptation strategies is simply guaranteed.

And indeed, there are the most interesting options.

Some moths are so small that their larvae spend the entire caterpillar stage gnawing holes in the thickness of the leaf. The tunnels of these miner caterpillars form characteristic patterns: graceful spirals and simple labyrinths.

Other caterpillars gnaw into tree trunks for years, sometimes up to four years in a row, sullenly chewing woody pulp and spewing a lot of odorous excrement from their burrows.

The third caterpillars live in bodies of water, feed on perennial underwater plants, build houses from their leaves and breathe underwater with feathery tracheal gills.

Still others weave silk shelters for themselves - bags that they drag around and camouflage with garbage and pine needles. Having reached adulthood, the male climbs out of the pouch. But the adult female remains sitting in her house, because even after metamorphosis she has no legs, no wings, no eyes. Essentially, this female is just a sac of eggs waiting to be found and fertilized.

The caterpillars of one Arizona bat feed on tiny oak flowers and pretend to be them themselves - yellow-green coloring, fake "pollen sacs." That same summer, the second generation of caterpillars is born - but the oak has already faded, and the new caterpillars look not like flowers, but like oak shoots. And their jaws are different - more massive and powerful, so that they can feed on leaves. Scientists once thought that these were two different types. But no - it’s the same species, just in different guises.

The wingspan of the world's largest moth (it lives in South America) - one foot.

And one Madagascar hawkmoth has a proboscis that is also a foot long: after all, the nectary of the orchid that this hawkmoth pollinates is the same length.

In Asia there lives a moth that can pierce human skin with its “teeth” and suck blood.

But the nocturnal moth named Saturnia luna has no mouth at all.

The ascetic yucca plant also does not eat or drink - it only pollinates yucca flowers, collecting pollen on one plant and dumping its load on the stigma of a flower on another. At the same time, the female lays eggs in the ovary of the flower. The flower turns into a box full of seeds and eggs. The caterpillars hatch, devour some of the seeds, eat their way out, fall to the ground and pupate. Yucca prodoxide is one of those few insects that pollinate plants actively, intentionally, in order to provide food for their own offspring.

The glass hornet really resembles a caricature hornet: the wings are long, transparent, the abdomen is thick, with yellow and black stripes. The hornets buzz angrily and stick out their abdomen menacingly - just in case they get stung!

Among the moths there are also doppelgängers of bumblebees.

Some moths can hover in the air like hummingbirds.

One Venezuelan moth pretends to be a cockroach.

Due to their enormous diversity and quantity, nocturnal butterflies and moths influence the ecosystem much more strongly than diurnal ones. They are the main and most skilled pollinators of flowering and grain plants. Their caterpillars feed the whole world. We even domesticated some moths - these are silkworms, our tiny living silk plants. We proudly parade around in clothes made from their secretions.

But there is also more harm from moths and moths than from daytime butterflies. They devour flour and fabrics. They gnaw plants in fields and gardens. Gypsy moth denudes entire forests, devouring foliage.

In European culture, moths and moths have negative associations. Moths, like their daytime sisters, symbolize the souls of the dead, but the nocturnal visit of the soul is a rather ominous phenomenon. Moths bring bad luck. They predict troubles. They emerge from the darkness. They are gray and furry. In a suicidal impulse, they fly straight to the lamp, to the beam of a lantern, into the flame of a candle - apparently, a bright source of light creates an optical illusion and deceives the faceted eyes of a butterfly: next to the flame of a candle they see a section of impenetrable darkness - into this darkness they try to fly away .

Let's remember the death's head hawkmoth. This yellow and black moth weighs smaller than a mouse. She has a skull pattern on her back. Its scientific name - Achemntia atropos - is derived from the Greek words “Acheron” (the river of suffering in the kingdom of the dead) and “Atropos” (the name of one of the three moiras - the one that cuts the thread of life). If you disturb the hawk moth, it begins to squeak. With its short pointed proboscis, it breaks through the wax walls of bee nests and steals honey. There is a hypothesis that the skull mark imitates the “face” of the queen bee, so that deceived worker bees do not attack the thief. Perhaps the same function - to mislead other insects - is performed by the squeak of a butterfly.

Hawkmoth "death's head"

In the film "The Silence of the Lambs" Serial killer raises "death's head" hawk moths and shoves their pupae down the throats of his victims.

In one 15th-century manuscript, a “death's head” is drawn in the corner of a page dedicated to St. Vincent, a saint who symbolizes victory over death and eternal life.

Moths are an allegory of the sad part of the story about the resurrection of the dead: after all, before eternal life begins, death comes.

Let's give them their due. Moths are beautiful. Moths are very interesting creatures.

But daytime butterflies are still something special.

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Many adult butterflies are active during the day, and at night they rest and sleep. This day butterflies. More than once we admired blueberries, lemongrass, mourning grass, urticaria, peacock's eye, hawk moths and many other beauties, the names of which are unknown to us. Another large group of butterflies called night , flies at dusk and at night, and hides in secluded places during the day. Among them stand out strong, nimble, fluffy, shaggy, medium-sized or small creatures, which in the dark unexpectedly fly into the light, noisily ram the light bulbs, bounce off them, do not fly away, but curl and beat against any surface, vibrating feverishly wings at breakneck speed. When you try to catch them, they escape, leaving a myriad of scales in the form of gray dust on your hands. These are different scoops. TO moths include: moths, corydalis, cocoon moths, cutworms, hawkmoths, moths, bear moths and others.

Protection from predators

Poisonous and inedible species often have warning bright colors. Butterflies, deprived of such means of protection, often mimic inedible species, imitating not only the color, but also the shape of the wings. This type of mimicry is most developed in Lepidoptera and is called “Batesian”.

Some butterflies imitate wasps and bumblebees, for example glassware , hawk moth honeysuckle bumblebee, scabiosa bumblebee . This similarity is achieved due to the coloring, body contours and structure of the wings - they are almost scaleless and transparent, the hind wings are shorter than the front ones, and the scales on them are concentrated on the veins.

Many species have a protective coloration, disguised as dry leaves, twigs, and pieces of bark. For example, silver hole resembles a broken twig, oakleaf cocoon moth looks like a dry birch leaf.

One type of repellent coloration is the “eyes” on the wings. They are located on the front or rear wings and imitate eyes vertebrates. In a calm state, butterflies with this coloration usually sit with their wings folded, and when disturbed, they spread their front wings and display frightening, brightly colored lower wings. In some species, large and very bright dark eyes with a white outline, similar to the eyes of an owl, are clearly visible.

To protect themselves from bats, moths have densely haired bodies. Hairs help absorb and disperse ultrasonic signals from bats, and thereby mask the location of the butterfly. Many butterflies freeze when they detect a bat's sonar signal. Ursa are capable of generating a series of clicks, which, according to some researchers, also prevent their detection.

Classification. The most common classification scheme for the order Lepidoptera divides it into two suborders, Palaeolepidoptera and Neolepidoptera. Their representatives differ from each other in many characters, including larval structures, oral apparatus, wing venation and structure of the reproductive system. Palaeolepidoptera includes few species, but they are represented by a wide evolutionary spectrum of mostly very small forms with miner caterpillars, while the suborder Neolepidoptera unites the vast majority of modern butterflies. In total, the Lepidoptera order includes more than 100 families, some of them (only for moths) are listed below. Glassworts (Sesiidae): slender forms with transparent wings without scales; resemble bees in appearance; fly during the day. Moths (Pyralidae): small, varied in shape butterflies; the wings at rest are folded into a triangle: many species are pests. Fingerwings (Pterophoridae): small forms with longitudinally dissected wings, the edges of which bear a fringe of scales. True moths (Tineidae): very small moths with a fringe of scales along the edges of their wings. Notched moths (Gelechiidae): small, often brightly colored moths; many, such as grain moths (barley moths), are malicious pests. Hawk Moths (Sphingidae): Typically large species that resemble hummingbirds in appearance. Bagworms (Psychidae): males are winged, small, darkly colored; wingless females and caterpillars live in silk bags. Peacock-eyes (Saturniidae): very large, wide-winged butterflies with a massive body; Many have "eye" spots on their wings. Moths (Geometridae): small, slender, broad-winged forms, the caterpillars of which “walk”, bending in a loop in the vertical plane. Leaf rollers (Tortricidae): small and medium-sized species; folded wings often resemble a bell in outline; many - dangerous pests, for example, the spruce budworm and the codling moth. Cocoon moths (Lasiocampidae): medium-sized hairy butterflies with a massive body; caterpillars are dangerous pests. Ursa Moths (Arctiidae): Medium-sized, hairy butterflies with brightly colored wings. Cutworms (Noctuidae): forms with inconspicuous gray or brown wings and filamentous antennae. Waterworts (Lymantriidae): males with gray or brown wings and feathery antennae; females are sometimes wingless; caterpillars are brightly colored.

Collier's Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .