BUTTERFLIES (lepidoptera)

Butterflies are one of nature's top pollinators and help pollinate over 1/3 of the food we eat.

Like frogs are to wetlands, butterflies are a sensitive indicator species of the health of our natural environment.

Pesticides and habitat loss have significantly reduced butterfly populations and endangered many butterfly species.

You can make the difference by creating a naturescape and butterfly habitat and using natural pest management instead of pesticides.

BUTTERFLY GARDENING TIPS

Study

Read books, identification guides, and online resources to help you identify butterflies and their host plants native to your area.

Do not use pesticides

Pesticides kill butterflies and other beneficial insects like ladybugs. Go to natural pest management to learn more about gardening without pesticides.

Where to plant

	Plant your butterfly habitat in a sunny area that is sheltered from wind and by a porch or window where you can enjoy it.
	Some good locations are along a south facing wall or fence.
	Do not plant it near bird feeders or birds will eat the caterpillars and butterflies.

What to plant

	Plant both native host and nectar plants for the butterfly life cycle.
	A native host plant is what a butterfly lays its eggs on and what caterpillars eat.
	A nectar plant has flowers that provide nectar for adult butterflies.
	Although butterflies will only lay their eggs on a specific native host plant, they will feed from many native and non-native nectar plants.
	Butterflies also need shrubs and trees to roost in at night and on cloudy days.
	Plant native host and nectar plants in separate locations.
	Plant masses of host plants near shrubs or trees so caterpillars can feed and have a place to roost and make their chrysalis.
	Plant a variety of nectar plants for year-round blooms and nectar supply.
	Butterflies especially like red, orange, yellow and purple colored flowers like those on lantana, verbena, and butterfly bushes.
	Black-eyed Susan, cosmos, lavender, monarda, Echinacea, salvia, and mints are some popular nectar plants.
	Plant host plants like parsley, forget-me-nots, and wild geraniums for some of the first butterflies that emerge in the spring.

Create places to bask in the sun

Butterflies like to bask in the sun on large stones and logs as they hold more warmth than plants.

Water

	Butterflies drink from water drops on leaves or from puddles on the ground.
	Male butterflies like to "puddle" or gather around patches of damp sand or drying mud to lick up dissolved salts.
	If you don't have a wetland or other natural areas where water puddles in your garden, you can make one by putting a tray-like container of moist sand in the ground.

Don't trim until spring

	Some butterflies do not migrate, but spend the winter suspended from leaves and branches in their chrysalises until they emerge in the spring.
	Don't trim your garden in the fall; wait until after the last spring frost to cut perennials or shrubs.
	This will also give your plants more protection against cold weather and provide places for other beneficial insects to hibernate!

BUTTERFLY LIFECYCLE

	Butterflies have a four-stage life cycle.
	Each butterfly species lays its eggs (ovum) on specific host plants.
	The eggs hatch into caterpillars (larva) and feed on the host plant continuously until they complete several molts.
	The caterpillars form a chrysalis (pupa) where they will complete their metamorphosis into an adult (butterfly).
	A butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis in one to two weeks and feed on nectar plants at specific times each day.
	The entire cycle takes a couple of weeks with adults living about one week.

BUTTERFLY FACTS

	There are 760 species of butterflies in North America.
	Butterflies are as small as a nickel or as large as a Frisbee!
	They like to stop at flowers that face straight upward.
	Their feet (tarsi) serve as taste sensors and when they touch something sweet it makes their tongue come out.
	A butterfly's tongue is 3 times longer than its body.
	They drink from puddles and water droplets.
	Nectar from flowers provides butterflies with the sugars and energy they need to live and fly.
	When they feed on flowers they pollinate plants.
	Butterflies with short tongues feed from flowers were the nectar is close to the top, while butterflies with long tongues feed from longer flowers.
	Butterflies are cold blooded and have green blood.
	They need the sun to warm their circulatory system before they can fly.
	A butterfly's wings act like mini-solar collectors capturing sunlight to warm them.
	Most butterflies don't fly until it is at least 55 to 60 degrees outside.
	On cloudy days and at night butterflies roost in protected places in trees under leaves and between bark crevices with their head down.
	The scales on their wings overlap like roof shingles and help butterflies escape from spider webs by not sticking.
	Butterflies scales give them their pattern and color.
	You can identify males and females by their wing patterns.
	The scales on the wing produce color through chemical pigments or by reflecting light.
	Male butterflies can identify a female in its chrysalis and will compete to mate with her when she emerges.
	Females flutter around looking for host plants where they will touch down and deposit an egg or two on the underside of a leaf.
	After hatching a caterpillar will increase its body size over 30,000 times before it forms a chrysalis.
	Birds and wasps eat butterflies as part of the natural cycle of life!

SOME COMMON NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES

	Black Swallowtails migrate from the southern U.S. into the Midwest and like plants in the carrot family like fennel, dill, and parsley.
	Giant Swallowtails also migrate from the south and like citrus trees.
	Buckeyes are a southern species but migrate into the Midwest and feed on plants in the figwort family like snapdragons and plantain.
	Cabbage Whites came from Europe and feed on plants like broccoli.
	Painted Ladies are widespread and feed on many plants, like thistle.
	Pearl Crescents are common across North America and like asters.
	Viceroy's feed on willow leaves and resemble monarchs - and they also have a toxic chemical that makes them taste bad to predators.
	Zebra Longwings feed on passion vines and live in Florida and Texas, but will migrate into the Midwest during mild winters.

	Monarch butterflies weigh as much as a penny but have wings as strong as steel.
	They only lay their eggs on, and the caterpillars only eat, milkweed plants that make them poisonous to predators.
	Monarchs live about six weeks but the fifth - or winter - generation lives up to six months on the body fats they store up so they can migrate.
	Every fall this single generation, instead of mating and reproducing, migrates up to 3,000 miles south to the same 50-acre pine forest habitat in the highlands of Michoacan Mexico, outside of Mexico City.
	They have never made the trip before but will travel over 200 miles a day and take several months to arrive at their winter habitat.
	There they will spend the winter in tree branches, sometimes over 10 million in a single tree!
	In mid to late March this same generation will mate and reproduce the first new generation that will begin the migration north.
	Successive generations will continue the lifecycle and flying north until they reach their summer habitat in the United States and southern Canada.
	No other butterfly and few birds migrate as far as the monarchs.
	For more information on the monarch's amazing annual migration visit Monarch Watch at www.monarchwatch.org.

	Antennae are	Fly	Caterpillars Eat
Butterflies	clubbed at end	during day	only one host plant
Moths	pointed and feathered	mostly at night	a variety of plants

	Mash a ripe banana or strawberry, or make some scraps on a slice of watermelon for the juice to collect, and place in a pan outside for butterflies to eat.
	Place a small salt lick from a pet store on a sunny rock or log and sprinkle with water.

To find out what butterflies live in your state visit Butterflies of North America at www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/bflyusa.htm.

Visit The Children's Butterfly Site at www.mesc.usgs.gov/resources/education/butterfly/butterfly.shtml

Visit the North American Butterfly Association at www.naba.org.

The Butterfly Book: A Kids Guide to Attracting, Raising, and Keeping Butterflies by Kersten Hamilton. John Muir, 1997. ISBN 156261309X

Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly by Sue Halpern. Pantheon Books, 2001. ISBN 037540208X

Butterfly World in Coconut Creek Florida is the largest butterfly habitat in the world with over 80 species and 5,000 butterflies from all over the Earth! Go to www.butterflyworld.com for more information!