h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I tried looking up info on this beautiful moth, and found some pictures in which the wing color was blue!

Who knew that moths could be so lovely?

Great shot Tav! I envy you with all your wildflowers. Between the hot,dry weather and the voracious deer, all we have here are a couple of zinnias. No sunflowers as we were late planting them and either the deer or the ground hog ate them down to the ground. Have a great week with all your children!

Our local groundhog ate some of my neighbor's hostas (expected), but then nibbled on Echinacea and Rudbeckia. It tried to devastate my shade-loving perennial sunflowers, but they had too many shoots for the groundhog to get them all. They are blooming marvelously now.

iplanted a lot of native wildflowers that rabbits are said to avoid. The griouyndhog avoids them, too.

All except for common milkweed. Nevetheless, the milkweed has all grown back and will probably be all right.

I also have three swamp milkweed plants. They are blooming with abandon, and they are unscathed. I planted them under my eaves so they would get plenty of rainwater.

A question please: (if there's an answer ?)

When resting with the wings upright - it's classed as a butterfly, but if the wings are horizontal in-line with the body, it's classed as a moth ?
Is there any reason why this so ?

"On the behavioral side, moths are nocturnal and butterflies are diurnal (active during the day). While at rest, butterflies usually fold their wings back, while moths flatten their wings against their bodies or spread them out in a "jet plane" position."
http://www.livescience.com/34472-difference-between-moth-butterfly.html

these differences are observational, not causal. We don't know why the deities or evolution came up with them.

Thank you all!

I find that the distinction between butterflies = day and moths = night is very fictional. I only know there are just different ways to fold the wings and I definitely see quite a lot of 'moths' in broad daylight. But what seems right is that there are no butterflies that are active during the night.

I wonder where they go at night, then.

They must huddle under leaves to keep sheltered

Another difference between moths and butterflies is their antennae - butterflies have antennae with a 'blob' (for want of a better word) at the top and moths have no blob - eg here the pale bit on the antennae is the same width as the dark part.

Great photos - the second one really shows the detail of the shape and pattern, but I also like the top one, showing its tongue

Thanks for explaining.

I think the one at the top is more pretty but the one at the bottom is probably more educational.

Yes, indeed, thanks - I did not know all that!

http://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/what-is-the-difference-between-butterflies-and-moths


err! Butterflies know english ? moths don't