Butterfly Glossary
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Butterfly Glossary |
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 SCAPE The scape is the base of an insect's antenna. |
SCAT Scat means animal waste or droppings. |
SCAT Scat means animal waste or droppings. |
 SCAVENGER Scavengers are animals that eat dead animals that they did not kill themselves. Most meat-eaters are scavengers. Hyenas are modern-day scavengers. A few butterflies are scavengers, and eat the rotting flesh of dead animals. |
SCENT SCALES Scent scales are modified wing scales on butterflies and moths that release pheromones. Only males have scent scales. The pheromones attract females of that species. Scent scales are also called androconia. |
SCLERITE Sclerites are the individual chitinous plates which make up the exoskeleton of insects (including butterflies and moths). |
SEDIMENT Sediment is any material deposited by wind or water, like rocks and sand. |
 SEDIMENTARY ROCK Sedimentary rock is rock that has formed from sediment. Most fossils are found sedimentary rock. |
 SEGMENTS Segments are the natural sections that insects' bodies are divided into. The abdomen of butterflies and moths have eleven segments (the terminal 2 or 3 segments are fused together). |
 SETAE (singular seta) Tactile setae are long hairs that butterflies and moths use to sense touch. These hairs are attached to nerve cells, and relay information about touch to the insect's brain. Setae grow through holes in the pinaculum of the exoskeleton. |
SEXUAL DIMORPHISM Sexual dimorphism is the physical differences between the males and females of a species. Frequently, the male and female butterflies are distinguished by vein width and other characteristics. |
SILK GIRDLE The girdle is a silken thread that a caterpillar wraps around its body as a support, attaching the larva to a twig or leaf as it is about to enter the pupa stage. |
 SILKWORM The silkworm (Bombyx mori) is the caterpillar of a moth whose cocoon is used to make silk - it is not a worm. The caterpillar feeds on mulberry leaves (Morus alba) until it is 2 3/4 inches long. It forms a silk cocoon (containing a single silk thread about 300 to 900 meters) around its hard brown pupa. The adult moth that emerges in three weeks cannot fly; it reproduces and dies within about five days (a female lays from 200 to 500 lemon-yellow eggs that eventually turn black). The Chinese have harvested silk from silkworms for thousands of years; the silkworm has been domesticated to the point where it can no longer survive in the wild. This insect is also called the silkworm-moth and the mulberry silkworm. It is native to Northern China. Classification: Class Insecta (insects), Order Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Suborder Ditrysia (Moths, Butterflies, Skippers), Superfamily Bombycoidea, Family Bombycidae, Genus Bombyx, Species B. mori. |
SILVER HAIRSTREAK BUTTERFLY The silver hairstreak butterfly (Neozephyrus syla) is a butterfly native to Afghanistan and NW India. Like all hairstreaks, it has spots that look like a head on its hind wings. Birds peck at this "head", and leave the real head alone. The silver hairstreak was named by Kollar in 1844. Classification: Suborder Rhopalocera, Superfamily Papilionoidea, Family Lycaenidae, Genus Neozephyrus, Species syla. |
SIMPLE EYE A simple eye is an ocellus. Butterfly and moth larvae have simple eyes only; adults have simple eyes plus compound eyes. |
 SKELETON A skeleton is the supporting structure of an animal's body. Butterflies and moths (and other insects) do not have an internal skeleton; they have an exoskeleton. |
SKIPPER Skippers (family Hesperiidae) are drab-colored, moth-like butterflies that are distinguished by the hook at the end of their antennae (instead of a club, like other butterflies have). These antennae are also farther apart at the base than other butterflies. There are about 2,00 different species of Skippers. They fly in a darting fashion (hence their name) and hold their wings in a moth-like fashion when at rest. The Australian Skipper also has a humeral lobe (a frenulum-like projection on its hindwing which holds the forewings and hindwings together during flight). |
 SKULL The skull is the bony structure of the head that encloses the brain and supports the jaws. No insects have a skull. |
SNOUT BUTTERFLIES Snout butterflies have long labial palps (mustache-like scaly mouthparts that are on either side of the proboscis) that look like a long snout. The front pair of legs on the male are reduced in size; the female has six regular-sized legs. They are brush-footed butterflies (Family Libytheana). |
 SOUTHERN DOGFACE The southern dogface butterfly, Colias cesonia, is a yellow butterfly that is also known as the dog's head butterfly. The wings are mostly yellow; there is a small dark circle in the center of the forewing and the margins of the wings are brown) they look a bit like a dog's face). Males have brighter coloration than females. The wingspan is 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 inches (58-65 cm). The caterpillar is green with black and yellow stripes. This butterfly lives in open woods in the southern half of the USA. The larval host plant is the false indigo bush, Amorpha fruticosa (a legume). Classification: family Pieridae, genus Colias (Zerene), species C. cesonia. |
SPEED The speed varies among butterfly species (the poisonous varieties are slower than non-poisonous varieties). The fastest butterflies (some skippers) can fly at about 30 mile per hour or faster. Slow flying butterflies fly about 5 mph. |
SPHYNX MOTH Sphynx moths (also called hummingbird moths, hawk moths, and clearwing hummingbird moths) look quite similar to hummingbirds. They belong to the lepidopteran family Sphingidae. They are large moths; they have a wingspan of over 5 inches (12.5 cm) and a large body. These strong fliers beat their wings very quickly (like a hummingbird beats its wings). They also eat in a manner similar to hummingbirds, sipping sweet nectar from flowers while hovering near the flower. In the larval stage, these moths are commonly called hornworms (named for a horn-like structure on their rear) and are agricultural pests. |
SPINNERET A spinneret is a tube-like structure on a larva's lower lip (labium) that contains the spinning apparatus (the silk glands) of the larva. The caterpillar draws silk (which is made in the salivary glands) from a tube in the spinaret. The silk dries when exposed to the air. Caterpillars use this silk to support themselves and to make webs and cocoons. |
STEMMA A stemma (pl. stemmata) is a simple eye that only detects light; it does not focus images. It is also called a lateral ocellus. Caterpillars have two pairs of six ocelli on their head. |
STRATA The strata (singular=stratum) are the different layers of a rainforest. Different animals and plants live in different parts of the rainforest. Scientists divide the rainforest into strata (zones) based on the living environment. Starting at the top, the strata are: emergents, canopy, understory, and forest floor. |
  SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLIES Swallowtail butterflies (family Papilionidae) are strong fliers with three fully developed pairs of legs. Many swallowtails have distinctive tailed wings (hence the family name). They lay spherical eggs. These butterflies are found from the tropics to more temperate regions. |
SWARM A swarm is a group of butterflies. Another name for a group of butterflies is a rabble. |
SYMBIOSIS Symbiosis is a situation in which two dissimilar organisms live together. There are many types of symbiosis, including mutualism (in which both organisms benefit), commensalism (in which one organism benefits and the other is not affected), or parasitism (in which one organism benefits at the other organism's expense). Symbiosis used to be defined as a situation in which two dissimilar organisms live together to the benefit of both - this is now called mutualism. The word symbiosis means "living together"" in Greek. |
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Butterfly Glossary |
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