By: Hettie Basil Lighttower

It’s very possible that winter is over or at least has lost its polar power! I have seen an early spring butterfly called the Mourning Cloak and several small moths called Hooded Owlets. On top of that the dogs have had a few ticks removed already! Yuck! Heck, I even had to swat my arm yesterday to kill a blood thirsty mosquito.
With all this insect commotion going on and my seasonal flowers popping up nearly seven inches now, I am thinking about butterflies. There are some really unique things that butterflies and caterpillars do that I just know you are going to enjoy. Quite possibly you have never known about some of these strange talents and habits some of these species do. Even moths have things unique to them.
For instance not all moths go by all the moth rules. You know…. Like flying at night and being dull in color? There is one common and popular day-time flying moth that people confuse with a large bee or even a hummingbird! As a matter of fact it got its nickname the “hummingbird moth” because it really does resemble a hummingbird in its behavior. As you might imagine a hummingbird hovering over a flower, so does this moth when it is feeding on the nectar. These types of moth are in the sphinx moth family. There are many different kinds of sphinx moths but not all of them are hummingbird style moths. But the few species that ARE nicknamed “hummingbird moth” are sphinx moth species. I hope that is not too confusing for you.
Then there is another amazing day time flying moth that is full of all the colors of the rainbow. As a matter of fact it is called the sunset moth. It is found in Madagascar. Many times it is mistaken for a butterfly. The colors are also metallic and vibrant tending to be even more colorful than a good bit of butterflies. Interestingly, it is included in many “butterfly” displays under its scientific name which does not include its nickname “Sunset Moth”. You unless you know, you don’t know it is a moth mislabeled as a butterfly. I was sorely disappointed when I saw this very moth in a Pittsburgh museum proudly among the “Butterflies of the World” display. I was sad even.
Caterpillars in the swallowtail family do a unique thing to ward of potential predators and danger. They have a special gland just behind the head and just before the thorax segment which flares up just like a flare! It is red or bright orange and looks like a set of jelly-like horns. On top of that this osmeterium gland wreaks of a very strong chemical. It lingers in the air just like a skunk and you really want to leave as soon as possible. And of course to predators that the fork-like red or orange gland resembles a snake’s tongue!
No one wants to stick around and get bit or eaten by a snake. This system works really well for these swallowtail caterpillars. And by the way swallowtails are the largest species of butterflies we have here in the US. They are butterflies with the enlongated “tails” on their lower wings, also called hingwings. There are about a dozen species of swallowtail butterflies in the US. The largest being called the Giant Swallowtail. It is indeed the largest. It has a bad rap though because its main host plant its caterpillars feed on is anything in the citrus family. They are nicknamed “Orange Dog” because they are mostly found in orange groves eating the crops.
There’s butterfly called a Skipper. And again there are many skipper species. They are always a joy to see because their flight pattern literally looks like it is skipping in the air. An interesting fact about these guys is that they have a unique shape to their antenna. A butterfly normally has an antenna in the shape of a golf club. A moth has an antenna shaped like a straight line or in some species like a feather. As a matter of fact the most respected and reliable way to identify whether a critter is a moth or a butterfly is by its antenna. It is the tell tale way to know the difference. But guess what?
The skipper not only skips when it is flying which is a great way to identify it, but it has an antenna unlike either the moth or the butterfly. Its antenna is straight and then drops out like a hook and remains very narrow without any feathering or knob on the end. For eons it was considered a butterfly, but it turns out in recent decades it was determined to be in a scientific class of its own. So, technically there are butterflies, moths and skippers. Skippers by the way have a very thick body like a lot of large moths do but fly during the day like butterflies. They are found all over the United States.
I hope you have enjoyed this little snippet about lepidopteran fun facts. You may get a few more of them next week just for fun.
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