We’d all like the rest of your butterfly facts, please.
I have SO MANY; I'm not even sure how to share them all.
Butterflies and moths are not taxonomic or cladistic groups; they're colloquial terms to refer to lepidoptera (the taxonomic order butterflies and moths belong to) that have different characteristics and behaviors. That said:
Moths tend to be nocturnal
Moths tend to have fuzzy bodies, butterflies are sleek
Moths tend to have fuzzy antennae, butterflies just have straight plain ones
The additional fuzz on months allows them to sense what's around them, which is helpful because they're not seeing as much because they're nocturnal
Moths tend to build chrysalises with silk but also leaves and mud, etc. These are known as cocoons. Butterflies only use silk and don't have cocoons (either are known as chrysalis)
The Atlas Moth has the biggest wingspan of any lepidoptera
The Atlas Moth usually emerges from its cocoon without a mouth. It can only breed and die
The Atlas Moth caterpillar lives for months. It's generally in the cocoon for months! But it only lives as an adult moth for a few days (because it can't even eat!)
Inside their chrysalises, caterpillars don't just grow wings and longer legs. They liquify completely and reform.
Caterpillars have six legs called "true legs" that mirror the six legs butterflies have. Then they have additional nubs farther down their bodies that help them move around.
Butterflies taste with their feet. If they land on you, they're tasting you!
Butterflies can only eat liquid. They primarily eat nectar and juice from fruit. Rotten fruit is easier for them because rotten fruit is juicy.
The butterfly mouth is called a proboscis. It curls up when not in use and uncurls when the butterfly eats. It's like a straw.
The word "proboscis" can sometimes refer (as a joke!) to nose, but butterflies can't smell with their proboscis. They smell with their antennae!
Like many insects, butterflies have faceted eyes. But unlike the movies, they probably don't see the same image over and over, because their vision isn't refined enough for that. What faceted eyes allow them to see are big patches of color, which is useful considering they eat fruit and flowers. If you want a butterfly to land on you, wear something colorful.
Butterflies don't have lungs. Like most insects, they breathe through holes in their bodies called spiracles.
Incidentally, this is why insects are so small. If they were giant, these holes would have to be bigger or there would have to be many more of them, and that would mean their exoskeleton was not stable!
Oh, yeah, butterflies do not have bones. Like all insects, they have an exoskeleton.
Butterflies do not have blood. Like all insects, they had a fluid that moves most nutrients through their bodies. It's called hemalymph. It carries hormones, nutrients, and waste. It's blue!
Male butterflies tend to be smaller and more colorful than female butterflies. This is the same style of sexual dimorphism present in most insects. Also in birds!
Male monarch butterflies have distinctive dark spots on the lower wings that female monarch butterflies don't have. The spots are scent glands that help them attract mates.
Most butterflies migrate. Like birds.
Monarch butterflies in North America east of the Rocky Mountains have one of the most impressive migration patterns of any animal. They may travel up to 3,000 miles from Canada to Mexico, but what is most spectacular about it is that almost all of them end up in just a few spots relatively close together on some mountain peaks in Central Mexico. The monarchs are so dense that you can't see the trees.
Butterflies are great for studying evolutionary adaptations in coloration and appearance because they are so striking. Camouflage is the adaptation present when an animal blends in with its surroundings. Mimicry is the adaptation that makes an animal look like a different animal.
The owl butterfly is a great example of mimicry because it has two big owl eyes on its wings. The Atlas moth wing tips look like snake heads.
"Batesian mimicry" is named after Henry Walter Bates, who studied mimicry in butterflies. Batesian mimicry means that one species who is harmless looks like another species that is not harmless. Mullerian mimicry is when several species that are harmful all look like each other, so the warning to predators is stronger. Butterflies have great examples of both types of mimicry.
Monarch butterflies and viceroy butterflies were once thought to exhibit Batesian mimicry, because it was thought that vicroys weren't toxic, but it turns out both butterflies are poisonous and so the species have evolved to mimic each other in an example of Mullerian mimicry.
Monarch butterflies are poisonous because the milkweed caterpillars eat is poisonous
The best way to attract butterflies is to grow native plants.
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As I've said before, the other 'ridiculous contrived scenario' from Wolf 359 that is entirely valid is every time they have to cram into an enclosed space because of a toxic leak or depressurization. One time on the ISS the ammonia leak alarms went off and everyone had to blockade themselves in the Russian section before they confirmed it was a false alarm. Also in the event of an ammonia leak you're supposed to strip naked before getting into the safe area since it might be on your clothes, although irl they didn't do it. Minkowski is extremely by the book, so that may be another reason everyone is so annoyed in "Constructive Criticism".
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For the horror asks! Nightmare on Elm Street, Final Destination, Rosemary's Baby!
A Nightmare of Elm Street: top 5 favorite songs right now? …You sure you wanna do this one? Okay…I’m gonna lie a little bit because I don’t just wanna put 5 songs from the same artist on here though…Spotify links under the cut
5. Meds - Vore Aurora
4. Touch - KANGA
3. Kill All Your Friends - My Chemical Romance
2. Blood in the Wine - Aurora
1. Utena - Reol
Final Destination: what’s something everyone else hates, but you love? It actually took me an eternity to think of a good answer to this one. So in Monterey there was also this underground wax museum that was from like…the 70s? I’m sure it was alright when it opened, but ever since I’ve known it, it was…horrible. The figures were falling apart, the recordings and stuff didn’t work properly, sometimes the lights were out. But I loved it, I made it a point to go every time we were in Monterey, even though no one else liked it (isabell once described it as “oppressive”, and I believe said it felt haunted). Seeing as I was the only one repeatedly going in by this point, it’s no surprise that the wax museum eventually closed, and the whole floor it was on was cleaned out, but the guys clearing out all of the junk let us take home to sign for the entrance, and now it lives in our room.
Rosemary’s Baby: what’s something everyone else loves, but you hate? Okay this is a very specific “everyone”, but I absolute hate Fallout 3. I think it’s a bad game. I don’t like the story or characters, I think the capital wasteland is boring, the vaults all suck (ESPECIALLY 108), the late-game enemies are way too bullet-spongy, and somehow almost all of the DLCs make it worse? Yes, even Point Lookout, in fact I actually specifically hate that one with a passion matched only by my fury for michael buble and mark wahlberg.
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