Welcome to the butterflies of the world learning resource page!

 

I'm a Papilio Ulysses butterfly
 
I live in the tropical rainforest. You can find me in Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
 
My wingspan is 14cm! Yes, I'm much bigger than the butterflies you normally see!
 
I'm a swallowtail butterfly, which means I have tails on my wings. Can you see them?
 
I like to eat nectar and pollen from flowers.
 
The underneath of my wings is grey and black, to help me hide from predators like birds and snakes.  But, as you can see, the top of my wings are very colourful - look out for bright flashes of blue as I flutter by!

 

Hi! I'm a Blue Pansy butterfly...
 
Do you think I look like a blue pansy?
 
I'm from Africa, southern and south-east Asia and Australia!
 
My favourite habitat is a grassy wasteland and I love the sun and open areas - you'll probably find me sunbathing!
 
I'm a very good flyer and like to fly quickly in a gliding fashion.
 
Male blue pansys are very territorial and if other males intrude on their space, they'll be chased away!
 
My beautiful, bright spots and patterns help frighten any potential attackers away.

 

 

Hello! I'm called an Adonis Blue 

I'm from Europe! 

My favourite habitat is a warm chalk or limestone grassland. 

I'm a male Adonis Blue - we have brilliant blue wings, while the females have rich, chocolate brown tinted wings.

I need my bright blue colours to attract the females in order to mate - do you think I'm blue enough?

We like to live in colonies, which means groups of us all live together. And we don't like travelling very far!

When we are baby caterpillars, ants protect us. Yes, ants! In exchange for their protection, we release a sugary substance they like to eat - it's a good deal all round I'd say!

 

I'm a Monarch butterfly

You will see me in New Zealand, Australia and North America.

I'm a slow flyer - some people describe the way I fly as sailing.

I'm called a Monarch butterfly because I'm considered the king of the butterflies!

I will travel a massive 3000 mile round trip to stay in the warm. No one has taught me the route, but somehow I know which way to go and it's exactly the same journey my ancestors took- sometimes I even land on the same trees they did years before.

I taste terrible and am poisonous to my predators, so most of them don't try to eat me - pretty clever eh?!

 

Have you seen me before? I'm a Swallowtail and we're one of the most common butterflies. 

You can find us in almost every country! While lots of other butterflies are also swallowtails, we were the first species to be named this because of our two pointy tails.

Something you may not know about my species is that as caterpillars, in order to protect ourselves, we look like bird poo! Yes, BIRD POO!

You may laugh, but it means predators leave us alone so that we stay alive and turn into beautiful butterflies! Now I'm a butterfly, I can fly really quickly and I'm strong, too!

 

I'm a Zebra Longwing butterfly! 

Now, why do you think they call me that? 

I'm native to America and South America and I like warm, damp, tropical climates. 

I like to eat the leaves of passion flowers, which taste delicious to me, but make me taste horrible to the animals that try to eat me and even make me poisonous to some! 

If the weather conditions are right, I can go from caterpillar to butterfly in just over three weeks. Night after night, large groups of us roost together on tree branches, but don't disturb me or I'll wiggle my body and make a creaking sound!

 

I'm a Question Mark butterfly!

You can find me in North America and my wingspan is around 6cm. 

I have beautiful colours on the top of my wings, but when they're folded, I look like a dead leaf! Can you think why this might help me?

I like being in wooded areas, but my favourite places are city parks because I like trees and open space. I'm called a Question Mark butterfly because on the underside of my lower wings I have a mark that looks just like a question mark!

You can tell whether we were born in summer or in winter by the way we look - if we're born in summer we are mostly black with short tails, but if we were born in winter we're mostly orange with longer, violet-tipped tails. When do you think I was born?

Hiya! I'm an Eighty Eight butterfly.

Can you see the two '8's on each of my wings?

You will see me in South and Central America.

I like to live in wet tropical rainforests.

Unlike lots of other butterflies, I have the ability to hear! I have what is called a Vogel's organ (what you might call 'ears') at the bottom of my front wings.

You might think it's gross, but I like to eat decaying fruit and dung - they're my favourites!

We're very active butterflies - always on the move, we never stay in one spot for more than a few seconds - but we like to come back to the same spots.

 

 

Hello! I'm a Peacock butterfly 

Can you guess why they called me that?

My bright colours might give you a clue! 

You will find me across the British Isles. 

My wingspan is around 6cm. When I was a baby caterpillar, I ate stinging nettles, but now I'm an adult butterfly, I like to drink nectar from flowers. 

When my wings are closed I'm a very dark colour that keeps me camouflaged from predators, but if anything spots me, I open my wings, and my colours will confuse and startle any enemies. I'm a very clever butterfly; when I rub my wings together I can make a loud noise to scare other animals away.

They call me the Leopard Lacewing butterfly 

Most of us are from India or China. We have ornate spotty and lacey patterns on our wings - hence our name! 

I am cold-blooded, which means my body doesn't regulate it's temperature and if I get too cold, I can't eat or fly. 

That's why you'll find me basking in the sun with my wings open trying to get warm. 

I have three pairs of legs and my feet have little claws on them to help me stand on flowers while I feed on their nectar.

My feet also have sense organs that let me taste the delicious flowers. I use the two antennas on my head to help me feel, hear, and smell.