butterfly

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Lime butterfly (Papilio demoleus)

Moths vs. butterflies: Can you tell the difference?

citrus swallowtail butterfly

Great Mormon butterfly

milkweed butterfly

Orange-tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines), with long proboscis for feeding.

Read Next

Aedes aegypti mosquito, a carrier of yellow fever, dengue, and dengue hemorrhagic fever.

10 Questions About Insects Answered

Malayan Leaf Frog - Megophrys nasuta

9 Animals That Look Like Leaves

Discover

New Zealand. Political/Physical map. Includes locator.

Where Is “Old Zealand”?

Two chicks near an egg with a white background (poultry, chick, chickens, birds).

What Do Eggs Have to Do with Easter?

Hemp (Cannabis sativa).

9 Mind-Altering Plants

illustration of the walking titanosaurus, Patagotitan mayorum

Titanosaurs: 8 of the World's Biggest Dinosaurs

Entrants falling and tumbling over while chasing the cheese at the 2016 'Cheese Rolling' held at Cooper's Hill, in the Cotswolds, Brockworth England

7 of the World’s Most Dangerous Festivals

Lusitania sinking, illustration from The War of the Nations (New York), December 31, 1919. World War I, WWI. This image is one of three on the page. (See source file for the other two.)

7 of the World’s Deadliest Shipwrecks

Groups of depositors in front of the closed American Union Bank, New York City. April 26, 1932. Great Depression run on bank crowd

Causes of the Great Depression

butterfly: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

News •

Global spread of butterfly disease revealed in museum collections • Apr. 3, 2025, 5:02 AM ET (Earth.com)

Facts

Also Known As	Papilionoidea

Photos and Videos

Lime butterfly (Papilio demoleus)

citrus swallowtail butterfly

Great Mormon butterfly

milkweed butterfly

Orange-tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines), with long proboscis for feeding.

copper butterfly

Moths vs. butterflies: Can you tell the difference?

Behold the multitude of Amazonian arthropods including spiders, scorpions, beetles, and mantids

What can bionics researchers learn from butterflies and moths?

Observe a monarch butterfly coming out of its chrysalis

Monarch butterfly migration explained

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

brush-footed butterfly Riodinidae What’s the difference between moths and butterflies?American moth-butterfly gossamer-winged butterfly metalmark Papilionidae Pieridae snout butterfly morpho heteropteran coleopteran ant wasp bee grasshopper skipper fly social insect apterygote

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Quiz

Lion (panthera leo)

Deadliest Animals Quiz

Mute swan with cygnet. (birds)

Match the Baby Animal to Its Mama Quiz

Sea otter (Enhydra lutris), also called great sea otter, rare, completely marine otter of the northern Pacific, usually found in kelp beds. Floats on back. Looks like sea otter laughing. saltwater otters

Animal Group Names

vulture. An adult bearded vulture at a raptor recovery center. The Gypaetus barbatus also known as the Lammergeier or Lammergeyer, is a bird of prey and considered an Old World vulture.

Animal Factoids

wasp. Vespid Wasp (Vespidaea) with antennas and compound eyes drink nectar from a cherry. Hornets largest eusocial wasps, stinging insect in the order Hymenoptera, related to bees. Pollination

Know Your Bugs Quiz

Green tree python snake (Chondropython viridis) in a rainforest.

Creepy Crawlers Quiz

List

Malayan Leaf Frog - Megophrys nasuta

9 Animals That Look Like Leaves

Aedes aegypti mosquito, a carrier of yellow fever, dengue, and dengue hemorrhagic fever.

10 Questions About Insects Answered