Butterflies, moths, and metamorphosis.
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
Compared with a typical butterfly, which body clue more often points to a moth?
A moth's thicker coat of scales can create a furry look, while a butterfly's body often looks slimmer and smoother.
Which moth famously hovers at flowers in daylight like a tiny bird?
The hummingbird hawk-moth beats its wings rapidly and sips nectar while hovering, so people often mistake it for a bird.
What creates the shining blue of a morpho butterfly's wings?
Morpho wings contain brown pigment, but grooves in their scales scatter light and return vivid blue hues.
Female butterflies often test leaves before laying eggs mainly to check for what?
A flower that feeds an adult may not feed its young; many caterpillars need leaves from a narrow range of host plants.
Monarch caterpillars get many of their defensive chemicals by eating which plant?
Milkweed supplies cardenolides that monarch caterpillars store, and their bold stripes warn many predators away.
Peppered moth caterpillars can match twig colors by sensing light through which body part?
Even with their eyes covered, these caterpillars changed color; light-sensitive proteins occur throughout their skin.
Which tree shelters eastern monarchs at their main Mexican winter sites?
Dense oyamel canopies act like a blanket, buffering clustered monarchs from wind and dangerous cold.
What drives liquid through a butterfly's proboscis?
The proboscis guides liquid like a straw, while the head pump creates the pressure that moves each sip to the gut.
Eastern monarchs reach Canada after leaving Mexico through which migration pattern?
Northbound adults lay eggs along the route, and their offspring continue the journey like relay runners.
Butterfly wing eyespots can steer a predator's strike toward which area?
Marginal eyespots can draw strikes to less vital wing edges, giving the butterfly a better chance to escape.