Why did the kid throw the butter out of the window?
To see the butter fly!
The origin of the word butterfly isn’t too far off from this age-old joke. According to popular belief, the term is derived from “butter-coloured fly” because of the common light-coloured Brimstone butterflies found in Britain.
Butterflies have distinct shapes, sizes, colours, wingspan and markings among other things, based on which they are identified and classified. For example, swallowtail butterflies are recognised by the long tails on their hindwings that look like the pointed tails of swallows. Tiger butterflies have orange wings with black stripes or bands on them. Another wonder in the lepidopteran world is Anna’s 88. It belongs to the largest family of butterflies and has black and red bands on its white wings with a distinct marking that looks like “88”.
Certain butterflies are known to camouflage and disguise themselves among natural objects or backgroundsThe Leafwing butterfly found in Central and South America also possesses the same characteristic. And transparent wings? Yes, that exists too. The Blushing Phantom butterfly, found in the Americas, lack wing scales which gives them the ability to conceal themselves among foliage, rocks or tree trunks.
Over 100,000 species of butterflies exist in the world. Do you know which country has the most number of butterfly species? Peru in South America. It has an extraordinary range of climatic condition and diverse habitats and over 3,700 species of butterflies are known to inhabit the country. However, this number only accounts for the recorded species. Lepidopterists (someone who specialises in the study of butterflies and moths) estimate that as many as 4,000 species will eventually be discovered!
