BIOLOGY PROJECT

BUTTERFLIES

Rachel Ann Kerr Class XI-A Roll No - 26

INTRODUCTION
BUTTERFLY
A butterfly is mainly a day-flying insect.

Most species of butterflies are diurnal, that is, they perform activities during the day and sleep at night. Butterflies are often large, have colourful wings and flutter and fly.

Butterflies comprise true butterflies, skippers and mothbutterflies. The earliest butterfly fossils date up to 40-50 million years ago. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic or parasitic relationships with some social insects like ants.
Some species of butterflies are called pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees. On the other hand some species of butterflies behave as agents in pollination and some caterpillars eat harmful insects. Butterflies are important as visual and literary arts. The name butterfly is derived from Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye and mixed with Old English as well. It is assumed that most probably the name butter must have been chosen because originally people must have solely seen butterflies that were yellowish in colour.

LIFE CYCLE OF A BUTTERFLY

The life cycle of a butterfly is made up of four parts. Namely 1. 2. 3. 4. Eggs Larva Pupa Butterfly ( adult )

EGGS
Butterfly eggs are protected by a hard-ridged outer layer of shell called chorion. This is lined with a thin coating of wax which prevents the egg from dying up before the larva has had the time to fully develop. Each egg contains a tiny funnelshaped opening at one end called micropyles to allow the sperm to swim inside and fertilize the egg. Butterfly eggs are fixed to the leaf with a special glue that hardens rapidly. This glue is easily seen surrounding the base of every egg forming a meniscus. The nature of the glue is unknown and is a suitable subject for research. The same glue is produced by a pupa to secure the setae of the cremaster. Eggs are almost invariably laid on plants and each species of butterfly has its own range of host plants and some species of plants are restricted to only one species of plants. The egg stage lasts a few weeks in most butterflies but eggs laid close to winter wait till spring to hatch and go through a diapauses stage or a resting stage. These butterflies are usually northern species such as Mourning Cloak and Large and Small Tortoiseshell.

CATERPILLARS
Butterfly larvae or caterpillars eat plant leaves spend practically all of their time in search for food. Most caterpillars are herbivorous but species such as Spalgis Epius do eat insects.

Spalgis Epius (left) and Lycaenidae - Peablue (right)

Some larvae, especially those from the Lycaenidae, form mutual associations with ants. They communicate with the ants using vibrations that are transmitted through the

substrate as well as through chemical signals. The ants provide protection to some degree and in return they gather honeydew secretions. Caterpillars mature through a series of stages called instars. Near the end of each instar, the larva undergoes a process called apolysis, in which the cuticle, a tough outer layer made of a mixture of chitin and specialized proteins, is released from the softer epidermis beneath, and the epidermis begins to form a new cuticle beneath. At the end of each instar, the larva moults the old cuticle, and the new cuticle expands, before rapidly hardening and developing pigment. Development of butterfly wing patterns begins by the last larval instar.

Butterfly caterpillars have three pairs of true legs from the thoracic segments and up to 6 pairs of prolegs arising from the abdominal segments. These prolegs have rings of tiny hooks called crochets that help them grip the substrate. Some caterpillars have the ability to inflate parts of their head to appear snake-like. Many have false eye-spots to enhance this effect. Some caterpillars have special structures called osmeteria which are everted to produce smelly chemicals. These are used in defence.

Wings or wing pads are not visible on the outside of the larva, but when larvae are dissected, tiny developing wing disks can be found on the second and third thoracic segments, in place of the spiracles that are apparent on abdominal segments. Wing disks develop in association with a trachea that runs along the base of the wing, and are surrounded by a thin peripodial membrane, which is linked to the outer epidermis of the larva by a tiny duct.

PUPA
When the larva is fully grown, hormones such as prothoracicotropic hormone (PTTH) are produced. The larva transforms into a pupa (or chrysalis) by anchoring itself to a substrate and moulting for the last time. The chrysalis is usually incapable of movement, although some species can rapidly move the abdominal segments or produce sounds to scare potential predators. The pupal transformation into a butterfly is through metamorphosis.

The pupal wings undergo rapid mitosis and absorb a great deal of nutrients. If one wing is surgically removed early on, the other three will grow to a larger size. In the pupa, the wing forms a structure that becomes compressed from top to bottom and pleated from proximal to distal ends as it grows, so that it can rapidly be unfolded to its full adult size.

ADULT
The adult, sexually mature, stage of the insect is known as the imago. A newly emerged butterfly needs to spend some time inflating its wings with blood and letting them dry, during which time it is extremely vulnerable to predators. Some butterflies' wings may take up to three hours to dry while others take about one hour. Most butterflies and moths will excrete excess dye after hatching. This fluid may be white, red, orange, or in rare cases, blue.

EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY
Adult butterflies have four wings: a forewing and hindwing on both the left and the right side of the body. The body is divided into three segments: the head, thorax, and the abdomen. They have two antennae, two compound eyes, and a proboscis.

SCALES -

Butterflies are characterized by their scale-covered wings. The coloration of butterfly wings is created by minute scales. These scales are pigmented with melanins that give them blacks and browns, but blues, greens, reds and iridescence are usually created not by pigments but the microstructure of the scales. This structural coloration is the result of coherent scattering of light by the photonic crystal nature of the scales.

Wings of a butterfly at high magnification and a close up of the scales

POLYMORPHISM
Many adult butterflies exhibit polymorphism, showing differences in appearance. These variations include geographic variants and seasonal forms.

#1 MIMICRY - Batesian and Mullerian mimicry in butterflies is

common. Batesian mimics imitate other species to enjoy the protection of an attribute they do not share, aposematism in this case. Wing markings called eyespots are present in some species; these may have an automimicry role for some species. In others, the function may be intraspecies communication, such as mate attraction. #2 SESONAL POLYPHELISM - Many of the tropical butterflies have distinctive seasonal forms. The dry-season forms are usually more cryptic and it has been suggested that the protection offered may be an adaptation. Some also show greater dark colours in the wet-season form which may have thermoregulatory advantages by increasing ability to absorb solar radiation. The wet-season forms have large, very apparent ventral eyespots whereas the dry-season forms have very reduced, oftentimes nonexistent, ventral eyespots.

HABITS
Butterflies feed primarily on nectar from flowers. Some also derive nourishment from pollen, tree sap, rotting fruit, dung, decaying flesh, and dissolved minerals in wet sand or dirt. Butterflies are important as pollinators for some species of plants although in general they do not carry as much pollen load as bees. They are however capable of moving pollen over greater distances. Flower constancy has been observed for at least one species of butterfly. Butterflies use their antennae to sense the air for wind and scents. The antennae come in various shapes and colours; the hesperids have a pointed angle or hook to the antennae, while most other families show knobbed antennae. Vision is well developed in butterflies and most species are sensitive to the ultraviolet spectrum. Many species show sexual dimorphism in the patterns of UV reflective patches. Many butterflies, such as the Monarch butterfly, are migratory and capable of long distance flights. They migrate during the day and use the sun to orient themselves.

The Monarch Butterfly Many species of butterfly maintain territories and actively chase other species or individuals that may stray into them.

FLIGHT
Like many other members of the insect world, the lift generated by butterflies is more than what can be accounted for by steady-state, non-transitory aerodynamics.

Migration Many butterflies migrate over long distances.

Particularly famous migrations are those of the Monarch butterfly.

DEFENCE
Butterflies are threatened in their early stages by parasitoids and in all stages by predators, diseases and environmental factors. They protect themselves by a variety of means. Chemical defenses are widespread and are mostly based on chemicals of plant origin. In many cases the plants themselves evolved these toxic substances asprotection against herbivores. Butterflies have evolved mechanisms to sequester these plant toxins and use them instead in their own defense.

LEOPARD LACEWING

NOTABLE SPECIES OF BUTTERFLIES

There are between 15,000 and 20,000 species of butterflies worldwide. Some well-known species from around the world include 1. Swallowtails and Birdwings, Family Papilionidae 2. Whites and Yellows, Family Pieridae 3. Blues and Coppers or Gossamer-Winged Butterflies, Family Lycaenidae 4. Metalmark butterflies, Family Riodinidae 5. Brush-footed butterflies, Family Nymphalidae 6. Skippers, Family Hesperiidae

BUTTERFLIES IN ART
Artistic depictions of butterflies have been used in many cultures including Egyptian hieroglyphs 3500 years ago. The butterfly was sometimes depicted with the maw of a jaguar and some species were considered to be the reincarnations of the souls of dead warriors. Today, butterflies are widely used in various objects of art and jewelry: mounted in frame, embedded in resin, displayed in bottles, laminated in paper, and used in some mixed media artworks and furnishings.