Butterflies what squad. Lepidoptera - a detachment of insects with complete metamorphosis
Butterfly belongs to the class Insects, phylum Arthropoda, order Lepidoptera (Lepidóptera).
The Russian name "butterfly" comes from the Old Slavonic word "babаka", denoting the concept of "old woman" or "grandmother". In the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, it was believed that these were the souls of the dead, so people treated them with respect.
Butterfly: description and photo. The structure and appearance of butterflies
In the structure of a butterfly, two main sections are distinguished - a body protected by a hard chitinous shell and wings.
A butterfly is an insect whose body consists of:
- Head, inactively connected to the chest. The head of a butterfly has a rounded shape with a slightly flattened occiput. Round or oval bulging eyes butterflies in the form of hemispheres, occupying most lateral surface of the head, have a complex faceted structure. Butterflies have color vision, and moving objects perceive better than stationary ones. Many species have additional simple parietal eyes behind the antennae. The structure of the oral apparatus depends on the species and can be of a sucking or gnawing type.
- Breast having a three-segment structure. The front part is much smaller than the middle and back, where there are three pairs of legs, which have a structure characteristic of insects. On the shins of the front legs of the butterfly there are spurs designed to maintain the hygiene of the antennae.
- The abdomen has the shape of an elongated cylinder, consisting of ten ring-shaped segments with spiracles located on them.
Butterfly structure
The antennae of a butterfly are located on the border of the parietal and frontal parts of the head. They help butterflies to navigate in the environment, perceiving air vibrations and various smells.
The length and structure of the antennae depend on the species.
Two pairs of butterfly wings, covered with flat scales of various shapes, have a membranous structure and are pierced by transverse and longitudinal veins. The size of the hind wings can be the same as the front wings or much smaller than them. The pattern of butterfly wings varies from species to species and captivates with its beauty.
When macro photography, the scales on the wings of butterflies are very clearly visible - they can have completely different shape and color.
Butterfly wings - macro photography
The appearance and coloration of the butterfly's wings serve not only for intraspecific sexual recognition, but also act as a protective camouflage that allows you to blend in with your surroundings. Therefore, colors can be both monochrome and variegated with a complex pattern.
The size of a butterfly, or better to say the wingspan of a butterfly, can range from 2 mm to 31 cm.
Classification and types of butterflies
The numerous detachment of Lepidoptera includes more than 158 thousand representatives. There are several classification systems for butterflies, quite complex and intricate, with changes constantly taking place in them. The most successful is the scheme that divides this detachment into four suborders:
1) Primary toothed moths. These are small butterflies with a wingspan of 4 to 15 mm, with gnawing mouthparts and antennae that reach up to 75% of the size of the forewings in length. The family consists of 160 species of butterflies.
Typical representatives are:
- golden winged ( Micropteryx calthella);
- marigold smallwing ( Micropteryx calthella).
2) Proboscis butterflies. The wingspan of these insects, covered with dark small scales with cream or black spots, does not exceed 25 mm. Until 1967, they were classified as primary toothed moths, with which this family has much in common.
The most famous butterflies from this suborder:
- flour fire ( Asopia farinalis L..),
- fir cone moth ( Dioryctrica abieteila).
3) Heterobatmia, represented by one family Heterobathmiidae.
4) Proboscis butterflies, which make up the most numerous suborder, consisting of several dozen families, which include more than 150 thousand species of butterflies. The appearance and size of the representatives of this suborder is very diverse. Below are several families that demonstrate the diversity of proboscis butterflies.
- Sailboat family, represented by medium and large butterflies with a wingspan of 50 to 280 mm. The pattern on the wings of butterflies consists of black, red or blue spots. various shapes, clearly visible against a white or yellow background. The most famous of them are:
- Butterfly swallowtail;
- Sailboat "Glory of Bhutan";
- Birdwing of Queen Alexandra and others.
Butterfly swallowtail
- Nymphalidae family, a characteristic feature of which is the absence of thickened veins on wide angular wings with a variegated color and various patterns. Butterfly wingspan varies from 50 to 130 mm. Representatives of this family are:
- Butterfly admiral;
- Butterfly diurnal peacock eye;
- Butterfly urticaria;
- Butterfly mourning, etc.
Butterfly Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
Butterfly diurnal peacock eye
Butterfly urticaria (Aglais urticae)
Butterfly mourner
- , represented by night butterflies with narrow wings, the span of which does not exceed 13 cm and is distinguished by a characteristic pattern. The abdomen of these insects is thickened and spindle-shaped. The most famous butterflies of this family:
- Hawk hawk "dead head";
- Oleander hawk;
- Poplar hawk.
- Owl family, which includes more than 35,000 species of night butterflies. The span of gray with a metallic shade of fluffy wings averages 35 mm. However, in South America there is a species of butterflies tizania agrippina with a wingspan of 31 cm or atlas peacock-eye, the size of which resembles a medium-sized bird.
Where do butterflies live in nature?
The distribution range of butterflies on the planet is very wide. It does not include only the ice expanses of Antarctica. Butterflies live everywhere from North America and Greenland to the coast of Australia and the island of Tasmania. The largest number species found in Peru and India. These fluttering insects make their flights not only in the flowering valleys, but also high in the mountains.
What do butterflies eat?
The diet of many butterflies consists of pollen and nectar from flowering plants. Many species of butterflies feed on tree sap, overripe and rotting fruit. And the dead head hawk moth is a real gourmet, because it often flies into hives and regales itself on the honey they have collected.
Some Nymphalidae butterflies need various trace elements and additional moisture. Their source is excrement, urine and sweat of large animals, wet clay, and human sweat.
.These butterflies include the Madagascar comet, whose wingspan is 14-16 cm. The life expectancy of this butterfly is 2-3 days.
Also among the butterflies there are "vampires". For example, males of some species of cutworms maintain their strength thanks to the blood and tear fluid of animals.
Such is the vampire butterfly (lat. Calyptra).
peacock-eyed artemis (Actias artemis), Far East
Detachment Lepidoptera, or butterflies (Lepidoptera) belongs to the three largest orders of the insect class (Insecta). According to modern estimates (for 1997), it has at least 250,000 known to science types. Considering that back in 1974 this number was estimated at more than 150,000 species, it can be expected that by 2017, at least 350,000 species of butterflies will be known to science. Only in Russia there are representatives of at least 84 families. Lepidoptera are insects with complete transformation: development goes through the stages of an egg, an erucoid (worm-like) caterpillar larva, which has several instars and molts between them, a sedentary, usually covered pupa and an adult insect, or imago. The caterpillar stage, which has a developed gnawing mouth apparatus, primarily has the function of accumulating organic substances. The caterpillar usually has a well-developed head, a 13-segmented body with 3 pairs of thoracic legs and, most often, 5 pairs of ventral suckers. The stages of the imago, or adult butterfly, which, as a rule, has a sucking mouth apparatus (proboscis), are mainly characterized by the functions of settling and reproduction. The detachment is characterized by the development of two pairs of wings in adults, covered with scales - modified bristles. The scales, due to the pigments they contain or their optical structure, create an exceptional variety of colors and patterns on the wings.
The division of Lepidoptera into suborders has not yet been settled, but most often they are divided into two suborders: Toothed (Zeugloptera) and Proboscis (Glossata, or Haustellata). The first includes a small number of species of small moths that we have in the family Primary toothed moths (Micropterigidae), which in the adult state are characterized by gnawing mouthparts with large upper jaws (mandibles). With the help of them, the butterfly grinds the pollen of plants, that is, food similar in abundance to nectar in its composition of carbohydrates. The second includes all other butterflies that have a developed or, less commonly, underdeveloped proboscis, formed by two gill-shaped lower jaws (maxillas). When subdividing the last suborder into large groups, an asymmetry of divisions is also observed: for example, taxonomists usually distinguish a small group of primitive Lepidoptera - butterflies belonging to the family of thin worms (Hepialidae) and close to them, as well as some families of primitive moths. This group of butterflies (Micropterigidae, Hepialidae, Eriocraniidae) is characterized by almost equal in shape fore and hindwings with an archaic venation system.
Along with the scientific classification, a practically convenient division of butterflies into Microlepidoptera, or lower butterflies (Microlepidoptera) and Macrolepidoptera, or higher ones (Macrolepidoptera), is also preserved in everyday life. The former include small and usually more primitive butterflies (numerous families of moths, leafworms and moths), the latter - all the rest are nocturnal, or different-bearded (Heterocera) and diurnal, or mace-like (Rhopalocera). Identification of species from many families of butterflies is difficult and is available only to specialists. Moreover, it is often possible only with a special preparation of the genitals (genital organs) of male and female butterflies.
Butterflies-bluebirds of the memorial collection of L. K. Albrecht A
The collection fund of butterflies of the Research Zoological Museum of Moscow State University is a collection of international class. This is the second largest (after the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg) collection in Russia. It contains approximately 300,000 identified, straightened, signed and systematically arranged copies on pins, and no less - in bags and on cotton wool.
Especially valuable for world zoological science are the so-called types (specimens that are international standards of species and subspecies). There are several hundred such specimens in the collection of butterflies.
The geography of the places where the butterflies were collected and deposited in our museum covers all the corners of the planet inhabited by them. From the tundra-covered islands of the Arctic latitudes, the deserts of Africa, the high mountains of the Pamirs and the Himalayas to distant Australia, the islands of Oceania, the richest species of tropical countries in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Many travelers who have been there have donated their collections of butterflies to the museum. Of particular pride are the specimens and entire collections preserved in the museum to this day, which have played an outstanding role in the history of zoology.
Butterflies from the collection of G. I. Fischer von Waldheim
This, for example, is a number of specimens from the beginning of the 19th century from the collection of the first director of the museum, the famous G.I. Fischer von Waldheim (1771–1853), individual butterflies collected by the tireless entomologist and traveler E.A. Eversmann (1794–1860). A true treasure is the collection of butterflies of the remarkable traveler to Central Asia A.P. Fedchenko (1784–1873), containing the types of species described for the first time for science from this region by the famous Russian entomologist N.G. Ershov (1837–1891).
The museum's huge collection of butterflies was created by the efforts of many generations of entomologists, biologists of various profiles, and a wide range of nature lovers. Among them are many collectors and donors. This tradition continues. Over the past 20–25 years, the museum's funds have been significantly replenished. The number of butterfly specimens in them increased by more than a third.
Of great value in the collection are specimens with identifying labels of specialist lepidopterologists and other butterfly connoisseurs, received in different time to the museum (K.M. Naumann from Germany on the family Zygaenidae, A.V. Kreutsberg on Papilionidae, V.P. Solyanikov on Psychidae, M.J. Bastelberger on the South American Geometridae, some scoops (Noctuidae) identified by I. V. Kozhanchikov, and many others). Exotic materials are separately placed in the museum fund, in the order of the system, club-whiskered and odd-whiskered butterflies of Russia and neighboring territories are split into species. It should be noted that the museum fund also has whole collections of microlepidoptera, but they are limited in volume and the main attention is paid to replenishing the fund with macrolepidoptera. This collection, the second largest in Russia after the academic one, is of considerable value both for identifying other types of research on Lepidoptera and for verifying the correctness of the definitions in numerous faunistic publications of the past at the present level. Information about museum collections of Lepidoptera is also in high demand for multifaceted activities for the protection of insects and environmental monitoring.
The most airy creatures on Earth - butterflies - amaze the imagination with their beauty and diversity. Especially they fascinate people with their coloring. Many with their color palette resemble a peacock's tail or a motley fan. This Living being never disgust. Nothing compares to the graceful and easy flight of a butterfly! Spring, beauty and eternity are associated with it. Butterfly is a symbol of happiness, fidelity, love, immortality. In another way, they are also called Lepidoptera. Biologists distinguish the following close orders of insects: butterflies, homoptera, dipterans, fleas. You will be interested to learn about the features of these wonderful insects.
Butterfly detachment, or Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera are the largest group of insects of the type. A characteristic feature of all representatives of the order of butterflies is the scaly multi-colored cover of the body and wings. These scales are nothing more than modified hairs. They have a different color, can make complex and bizarre patterns. These patterns serve as a disguise to hide the insect or signal inedibility. For most species, the patterns on the wings are of an identifying nature, so that individuals of the same species can recognize each other.
Another identifying feature of the butterfly detachment is the sucking mouth apparatus in the form of a long tubular proboscis. For eating, the butterfly puts forward a long proboscis, immerses it deep into the flower and sucks in the nectar.
The main source of food for the order of butterflies is the nectar of flowers, so they are considered the main pollinators of flowering plants. There is an opinion that with the appearance of flowers on Earth, butterflies arose.
Butterfly breeding
Everyone knows that butterflies are nocturnal and daytime. pass in the process of development First, they lay eggs, from which larvae hatch, completely unlike adults. These are caterpillars. By using salivary glands caterpillars secrete saliva and it is from them that caterpillars weave a cocoon for their chrysalis. The caterpillar will turn into it after passing several links. After some time, an adult butterfly (imago) flies out of the pupa. The longest lifespan of adults is several months.
Nutrition Features
The annual development cycle of a butterfly is different, depending on the species. Most often, butterflies give one generation per year. There are species that give two or three generations per year.
Individuality of the building
Lepidoptera can range in size from 2 mm to 15 cm. The smallest butterfly is considered to be a baby moth that lives in the Canary Islands. The largest species is the Maak sailboat, which is common in Europe.
Like other insects, butterflies have an abdomen, head, and thorax. is a strong chitinous cover. Butterflies have two pairs of wings with modified scale hairs. It is with the help of these scales that the wings acquire pattern and color. Butterflies can fly long distances. These insects are of two sexes.
Orders of insects: butterflies, homoptera, diptera, fleas
Today, there are about 150,000 scaly species that live on all continents except Antarctica. Tropical areas are rich in brightly colored butterflies. In addition to butterflies, there are several more similar orders of insects: homoptera, diptera, fleas. Let's get acquainted with the main representatives of each squad:
In nature and human life, Lepidoptera have great importance. After all, butterflies perfectly pollinate plants. Many large butterflies, such as the swallowtail, Apollo, simply fascinate with their beauty. They become exhibits of many entomological collections.
27. Order Hymenoptera
Honey bees, wild bees, bumblebees, ants, riders, sawflies, horntails are hymenoptera that have two pairs of membranous wings in adulthood (hence the name of their order). There are also wingless insects that are part of this order, such as worker ants. About 300,000 species of Hymenoptera are known.
Figure: Hymenoptera - great horntail and birch sawfly
Sawflies: In sawflies, females have a saw-like ovipositor. With them, these insects saw through plant tissue in order to lay eggs in the cuts made. Sawfly larvae are similar to butterfly caterpillars and are called caterpillars. From caterpillars with 2-5 pairs of pseudopods, they are distinguished by the presence of 6-8 pairs of pseudopods. Sawfly larvae feed mainly on plant leaves. Some of them are known as malicious pests of trees and shrubs. Thus, the larvae of coniferous sawflies often completely eat the needles of trees.
Horntails: Horntails got their name because their females have a long ovipositor, hard as a horn. The female, like a drill, drills through wood and lays eggs in the holes made. Horntail larvae feed on wood, damaging many trees.
Riders
Figure: riders - whitefish (left), riss (right)
Stinging Hymenoptera
Pattern: Stinging Hymenoptera
Stinging hymenoptera are well-known wasps, bees, bumblebees and ants. They are called stingy because in females the ovipositor, drawn into the abdomen, has turned into a sting - an instrument of defense and attack. Ants have a very short sting, so they cannot sting. Among bees and wasps, species leading a solitary lifestyle predominate, when each female independently raises her offspring. For others (some bees and some wasps, all bumblebees and all ants), care for offspring has led to the emergence of a social way of life. At social insects in one nest all individuals of one or several generations are united, and different individuals carry out different functions. By the way, insects live together from at least two successive generations - maternal and child. Most often, a hymenoptera society is a single family consisting of the offspring of one female.
Drawing: forest red ants and anthill
The main feature of the society of stinging hymenoptera is that it consists of such members, each of which cannot exist without the others. Such a society necessarily includes three groups: fertile females(or queens, the so-called queens), performing the functions of reproduction and resettlement; males involved only in reproduction - drones; workers, which account for the implementation of all work on the care of females and males, as well as offspring. Workers build and guard nests, supply all family members with food. In social insects, workers are sterile females. In bees and wasps they are winged, in ants they are always wingless.
Role of Stinging Hymenoptera
The role of the stinging Hymenoptera is truly enormous. Bees and bumblebees are one of the main pollinators of flowering plants, and wasps and ants are our allies, destroying a myriad of harmful insects to feed their offspring.
The main feature of butterflies is the presence on their wings of the smallest colored scales, the location of which determines the pattern of the wing. These scales are easily erased, so the pattern on long-flying specimens is not as bright as on fresh ones.
The oral organs of butterflies in most cases are represented by a long, spirally twisted proboscis.
Sitting on a flower, the butterfly spreads its proboscis, immerses it deep into the flower and sucks out the nectar. Some butterflies do not feed, and they do not have a proboscis. By the nature of the activity, butterflies are divided into two large groups.
Diurnal butterflies fly, feed, lay eggs during daylight hours, usually in hot sunny weather, and hide in shelters at night. Butterflies, on the contrary, sit in shelters during the day, and actively fly at dusk and at night.
Diurnal and nocturnal butterflies can be easily distinguished by their appearance. Diurnal butterflies have very wide wings (Fig. 13, 4), which they fold at rest, extending vertically upwards and pressing against each other with their inner brightly colored side. Their body is slender, the chest and abdomen are thin, the antennae end in a mace. Diurnal butterflies are also called mace butterflies.
In night butterflies, the wings are narrower, and they fold them most often in a roof-like manner over the abdomen, or they keep them flattened to the sides.
The chest and abdomen of these butterflies are usually thick (Fig. 13, 1), the antennae are of various structures, but they are never club-shaped.
The flight of most diurnal butterflies is slow, fluttering, while that of the night butterflies is swift, with frequent wing beats.
Butterfly larvae are called caterpillars. characteristic feature caterpillars - the presence on the abdominal segments of fleshy false legs, the sole of which is equipped with hooks that allow the caterpillars to firmly hold onto the plants.
Unlike the true segmented pectoral legs, the false ventral legs are not divided into segments.
Almost all caterpillars feed on plants and live openly on trees, shrubs and grasses. Caterpillars of some butterflies eat grain, flour, wool, wax and other valuable products and materials.
Most butterflies economic importance do not have, serve as an adornment of nature and deserve protection. Only a few species are useful, such as silkworms. A few more harmful species that damage agriculture, forestry, horticulture, and stored products and products.
Cabbage butterfly(tab.
2, 3) is one of the most common diurnal butterflies, well known for being an unpleasant companion of rural areas. This large white butterfly is difficult to find far from agricultural fields and vegetable gardens. Although its caterpillars are able to develop on wild plants from the cruciferous family, cabbage is concentrated in cabbage fields and vegetable gardens.
Caterpillars damage cauliflower and white cabbage especially strongly. They also develop on swede, turnip, rapeseed, mustard and other cruciferous plants.
Rice. 13. Representatives of the Lepidoptera order: 1 - odorous woodworm; 2 - motley; 3 - fingerwing; 4 - multicolor
Cabbage is very widespread, but it is not found in Siberia due to severe frosts and in Central Asia, where heat and dry air are unfavorable factors.
Butterflies fly in early spring, in the Moscow region, for example, from the beginning of May until late autumn. These are heat-loving and sun-loving insects; in cloudy weather or when the temperature drops, they hide among plants. They fly only in the daytime from 7 am to 6 pm. They feed on the nectar of flowers.
The female lays her eggs in clusters of 20 to 200 on a single leaf of cabbage or other cruciferous. In total, the female can lay up to 250 eggs.
Young caterpillars keep in clusters, they feed by scraping the flesh of the leaf. As they grow, they spread and begin to eat all parts of the leaf, except for the thick veins.
Adult caterpillars climb fences, tree trunks and other objects, attach their body with a silky belt in a vertical position with their heads up and turn into pupae.
The pupa is painted in a color similar to the color of the object on which the caterpillar pupated, which makes it hardly noticeable to enemies.
Cabbage often breeds in large numbers and destroys cabbage on many thousands of hectares. If the caterpillars eat all the cabbage in the breeding grounds, they crawl to neighboring fields. Caterpillars bring noticeable harm even with a small number: their green excrement falls between the leaves of the head of cabbage and causes it to rot.
During the summer, several generations of the pest develop. Butterflies accumulated in large numbers sometimes fly over considerable distances.
Cabbage is included in a large group of white butterflies, among which there are many harmful species - swede, turnip, hawthorn, etc.
winter scoop(Table 2, 12). As the name of the species indicates, the butterfly is a pest of winter cereals. However, in a number of regions it also damages sugar beet, vegetable crops, potatoes, and in the south - cotton and tobacco.
Scoops are nocturnal butterflies, which, on this basis, are often also called night bats.
The small head of these butterflies is surrounded by a hood of thick fluffy hairs and outwardly resembles the head of an owl, hence their main name - scoops.
A feature of the biology of most scoops is the negative reaction of caterpillars to light. Therefore, during the day, the caterpillars hide between lumps of soil, and at night they crawl onto the plants that they feed on.
The winter armyworm can develop on more than 50 different plant species. However, the pest concentrates on agricultural fields. This is due to the instinct of females to choose areas with sparse vegetation for laying eggs.
Therefore, females are attracted to plowed fields of winter crops or fields of potatoes and vegetables.
Females feed on flower nectar for a long time before laying eggs. Eggs are laid at night one at a time in plant debris in the fields or on weed leaves. One female can lay up to 2000 eggs. Caterpillars gnaw the stems of plants at the base, and often also eat germinating grains.
With a number of caterpillars of 10 specimens per 1 m2, winter crops are greatly thinned, and sometimes completely destroyed.
Having reached maturity, the caterpillars of the winter scoop burrow into the soil to a depth of 5–25 cm, arrange elongated caves with smooth walls there, where they turn into pupae.
In such caves, caterpillars hibernate, and turn into a chrysalis in spring.
Butterflies and caterpillars of the winter scoop have a monotonous color: the caterpillars are earthy gray with a smooth body; the front wings of butterflies are brown, sometimes almost black, with two kidney-shaped spots in the middle part.
Apple and plum codling moths. The caterpillars of these butterflies are known to all. These are the same pests that cause great damage to horticulture, causing the "worminess" of apples, plums, less often pears, apricots, thorns.
The female codling moth lays up to 100 eggs singly on leaves or young fruits. A week later, caterpillars emerge from the eggs. If the egg was laid on a leaf, then the caterpillar feeds on its pulp for some time, and then crawls onto unripe apples. Caterpillars, caught on an apple, immediately begin to feed on the pulp of the fruit, first eating away the tissues under the skin, and then penetrating into the thickness of the apple to the seeds, which they also destroy.
Caterpillars of the spring generation, which have populated the barely emerging fruits, after eating out the seeds, leave the first apple damaged by them and bite into the next one. Thus, one caterpillar spoils 2 apples. One apple is enough for caterpillars of the summer generation.
The “wormy” apple is perforated with caterpillar passages, these passages contain brown excrement, their walls eventually rot. The affected apple can be distinguished by its irregular shape and the presence of an exit hole, in which brown excrement is often visible.
The development of caterpillars lasts about a month, after which they crawl out of the apple, find shelter most often under the bark or in crevices of wood, weave a cocoon and pupate. Autumn caterpillars choose more sheltered places in the lower part of the trunk above the ground or between clods of soil, as they will overwinter.
Butterflies fly in the spring, when the apple trees have already faded and the excess ovaries on the apple trees have crumbled. They are grayish in color, small and inconspicuous; caterpillars are pinkish, with a lighter underside.
Plum codling moth spoils unripe plums. Females fly at night, find plums and lay one egg for each fruit. Caterpillars bite into the fruit, the surface of which is covered with spots, thickened juice protrudes from the course. Damaged plums often fall off or become covered with fungus and rot.
Adult caterpillars leave the plum and pupate in upper layers soil or in cracks in the bark at the base of the trunk.
Room moth. This small straw-yellow butterfly is a representative of a group of moths, which, in addition to it, includes fur coat moth, carpet moth and other pests of clothing and various household products.
Whitish caterpillars of room moths eat wool and woolen products, fur, bristles, etc. Often, many dozens of caterpillars develop simultaneously in carelessly stored woolen things. Having reached maturity, the caterpillars spread, build cases in which they pupate.
If a mole flies around the room, then it is either a male or a female that has laid eggs.
Extermination of flying butterflies will do little. It is necessary to reconsider things and establish where the moth caterpillars live. The moth most often breeds in garbage and rubbish containing wool, from there it spreads to wardrobes and suitcases, where it destroys valuables.
gypsy moth(Table 2, 9). The name of this butterfly is based on the sharp differences in size and coloration of males and females.
The female has a thick body, off-white wings with zigzag lines and a slightly feathery antennae. The wingspan of the female (75 mm) is much larger than that of the male (45 mm). In addition, the front wings of the male are much darker, colored brownish-brown, his body is more slender, and his antennae are strongly pinnate.
The gypsy moth is one of the most dangerous pests forests and gardens. Its caterpillars are able to feed on the leaves of more than 300 different plants, preferring oak, poplar and fruit trees.
In the north, the main food for caterpillars of this silkworm is birch leaves.
The female in summer lays 300-450 eggs at once in the form of one clutch, which she usually places in the lower part of the tree trunk at a height of up to 50 cm. The eggs are protected from above dense layer reddish hairs that the female separates from the hairline of her abdomen.
Eggs overwinter, from which caterpillars appear in spring, in the first half of May.
On the front of the body they have 5 pairs of blue, on the back - 6 pairs of red warts.
Adult caterpillars gather in the crowns of trees in large groups, braid the eaten branches with silk threads and pupate in such nests.
The gypsy moth breeds in sparse forests weakened by livestock grazing and other anthropogenic influences. Reproduction is favored by hot summer weather after a cold winter without thaws.
Males of this nocturnal moth often fly during the day in search of females.
Silkworm and sericulture. On the example of the silkworm, one can trace the process of domestication of beneficial insects.
Cabbage (butterfly)
Over 5000 years ago silkworm lived in natural conditions. The Himalayas are considered its homeland. During this time, this species has become extinct in nature and is no longer found. However, it did not disappear, as it began to be artificially bred to produce silk.
Outwardly, the butterfly is unremarkable: it has white wings, the body is densely covered with hairs.
The caterpillar is also whitish, with a blunt horn at the end. It feeds exclusively on mulberry (mulberry) leaves.
Domestication has led to a change in the lifestyle of butterflies. It is especially interesting that butterflies have lost the ability to fly.
In addition to mulberry, different countries to obtain silk, other types of silkworms are bred, for example, oak peacock-eye.
Sericulture is an industry Agriculture, whose task is to breed silkworm butterflies to obtain ‘silk.
It originated about 5000 years ago. In our country, silkworm breeding began in Central Asia about 1400 years ago.
At present, large mechanized sericulture state farms have been set up in the USSR.
From female silkworms receive a large number of eggs, the so-called grena. Grena is disinfected and caterpillars are obtained from it in special incubators. Only the most viable specimens are selected for cultivation.
Caterpillars are fed with mulberry leaves on feed shelves in specially equipped rooms, in which favorable conditions (temperature and humidity) are maintained. Feeding lasts about a month. To obtain 1 kg of silk, 17-18 kg of mulberry leaves are required.
Before pupation, the caterpillar weaves a dense cocoon, releasing the finest silk thread about 1 km long.
The pupae in ready-made cocoons are killed with hot steam, and the silk thread is unwound on special machines. 1 kg of raw cocoons gives 90 g of raw silk.
The profitability of sericulture is increased by breeding highly productive silkworm breeds, improving the quality of the resulting silk thread, as well as developing various techniques that increase the percentage of males in the offspring; male cocoons contain 30% more silk than female cocoons.
Other common butterflies. Often found in rural areas is a bright red urticaria with black spots, the caterpillars of which live on nettles.
In summer, velvety-brown mourning women are common on country roads, the wings of which are edged with a wide dirty white stripe.
Of the small diurnal butterflies, the sky-blue pigeons and their related bright red fiery chervonets attract attention.
In the evenings, mostly modestly colored scoops fly near the flowers in the meadows.
Mimicry(Table 4, 10 - 13). There are many insects that have their own effective means of protection from enemies.
These include stinging forms, as well as insects that are distinguished by poisonous blood and for this reason are inedible. It is enough for a bird to try such an insect once, as it subsequently begins to avoid it.
An amazing result of adaptive changes are numerous defenseless edible species insects, outwardly very similar to stinging or poisonous species.
Among butterflies, for example, there are species that, in their appearance, color, and sometimes behavior, resemble other insects - either inedible due to the poisonous properties of blood, or protected from enemies by such defensive means as a sting.
Glass butterflies are interesting in this respect (Tables 4, 10), resembling wasps. In these butterflies, the wings became long and narrow, the scales disappeared on them and the wing became transparent.
The hairs on the chest and abdomen form yellow stripes and spots on a black background. An inexperienced observer will easily mistake such a butterfly for a wasp. The birds are also mistaken: although the butterfly is edible, they do not attack it, for fear of getting a sting.
Behavior also changes in glass cases: although they belong to nocturnal butterflies, they fly during the day when the wasps they imitate are active.
Sometimes this similarity is especially great. In the tropics, for example, there are heliconid butterflies that have a bright color.
They are inedible because of the unpleasant taste and pungent odor. They fly in swarms, in connection with which the frightening smell intensifies. Heliconids do not hide, have a slow flight, but none of the numerous tropical birds touch them. Two species of tropical white butterflies mimic heliconids in their coloration and behavior.
They fly together with heliconids and are so similar to them that predators do not touch these completely edible whites.
Mimicry is developed not only in butterflies, but also in other insects, and not only in insects, but in other animals.
The incomplete-winged beetle (Table 4, 12) from the family of woodcutters, quite common on flowers, looks very much like wasps.
If in most lumberjacks the elytra are fully developed, and the wings are not visible, then in the incomplete wing, the wings are noticeable almost along the entire length, since the elytra are greatly shortened.
Along with wasps, hoverflies (sirfs) are common on flowers. With their bright color, and sometimes the shape of the body, they are very reminiscent of wasps. Other types of hover flies and flies from the family of ktyrs imitate bumblebees with their color and pubescence.
A unique case of mimicry that sometimes stands out in special kind adaptive behavior, is an imitation of some caterpillars of hawk moths to tropical snakes.
In a resting position, the caterpillar of one of the South American hawks resembles a twig. However, it is enough to disturb her, as she raises and bends her body, inflates her prothorax and shows two bright spots resembling snake eyes. Such external similarity provides a strong deterrent effect.
Lepidoptera (or butterflies) is a rather numerous detachment of insects. It includes about 150 thousand species. Representatives of Lepidoptera are various butterflies, moths and moths. Their main habitats are forests, meadows, as well as fields and gardens.
Butterflies are characterized by two pairs of large wings, usually brightly colored. The wings are covered with small chitinous multi-colored or colorless scales laid like tiles.
Hence the name of the detachment - Lepidoptera. Scales are modified hairs, they are also found on the body.
Usually in butterflies leading daytime look life (lemongrass, cabbage, etc.), in a calm state, the wings fold together over the body. In nocturnal Lepidoptera, they are roof-like (for example, in moths).
The bright color of the wings serves butterflies to recognize representatives of their own species, and also often has a protective function from predators.
So in some Lepidoptera, the wings folded together look like a leaflet, that is, the insect disguises itself as environment. Other Lepidoptera have spots on their wings that from a distance resemble the eyes of birds.
Such butterflies have a warning coloration. Usually patronizing coloration moths have, and they find each other by smell.
Lepidoptera are insects with complete metamorphosis.
Caterpillar larvae emerge from the eggs, which subsequently pupate, after which a butterfly emerges from the pupa (imago is the adult sexually mature stage). Caterpillars usually live longer than adults. There are species in which the larva lives for several years, while the butterfly itself lives for about a month.
Caterpillars feed mainly on foliage, have a gnawing type of mouth apparatus.
Order Lepidoptera or butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Butterflies have a sucking-type oral apparatus, represented by a proboscis rolled into a spiral tube, which is formed from the lower jaws and lower lip. Adult Lepidoptera most often feed on the nectar of flowers and at the same time pollinate plants. Their long proboscis unwinds, and with it they can penetrate deep into the flower.
Lepidoptera caterpillars, in addition to three pairs of articulated legs, have pseudopods, which are outgrowths of the body with suckers or hooks.
With their help, the larva is kept on leaves and branches, and also crawls. Real legs are most often used to hold food.
Caterpillars have silk-secreting glands in their mouths that secrete a secret, which turns into a thin thread in the air, from which the larvae weave cocoons during pupation.
For some representatives (for example, the silkworm), the thread has value. People get their silk. Therefore, the silkworm is bred as a pet. Also, a silk thread, but coarser, is obtained from an oak silkworm.
Many among Lepidoptera pests of forests, agricultural fields and gardens.
Thus, with a strong reproduction of the oak leafworm and the Siberian silkworm, hectares of forests can be destroyed. Cabbage white caterpillars feed on cabbage leaves and other cruciferous plants.
BUTTERFLIES, lepidoptera (Lepidoptera, from the Greek λεπ?ς - scales and πτερ?ν - wing), one of largest detachments insects. About 140 thousand species; There are no reliable data on the number of species in Russia.
Distributed worldwide, most diverse in the tropics.
Butterflies range in size from very small (wingspan about 3 mm, some moths are tiny) to very large (up to 300 mm, South American scoop Thysania agrippina). The oral apparatus of the sucking type, in the form of a proboscis. At rest, it is folded between protruding lower labial palps. In non-feeding butterflies, it is secondarily reduced. The most primitive butterflies (primary toothed moths) have a gnawing mouth apparatus.
The eyes are complex (faceted), often with 2 simple eyes above them. The presence of hearing organs has so far been established only in the higher forms of the order with nocturnal activity. The auditory waves perceived by them lie in the region of high frequencies (15-80 kHz). Organs of smell - antennae (antennae) various forms, from bristles to club-shaped and pinnate. With their help, males of some species of butterflies find females by smell at a distance of up to several kilometers. They have 2 pairs of wings of various shapes.
At rest, they fold flat-horizontally over the body, one above the other (in many species of scoops, moths, moths), roof-like or vertically (in diurnal butterflies). To synchronize the work of the front and rear wings in flight, various mechanisms of their coupling are used. The composition and arrangement of the veins on the wings, as well as the features of the musculoskeletal system of the genitals, are the most important features underlying the classification of butterflies.
The wings and body are covered with scales (sometimes the wings are partially bare). Their color is varied and is determined by pigments or refraction of light rays in colorless scales (metallic luster).
Order Lepidoptera or Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
The coloring of many species is masking or bright, warning (in poisonous forms); mimicry is widespread - imitation of species that are inedible for predators or even stinging hymenoptera (in glass cases, some false moths). Often there is sexual dimorphism in size, color, structure of the antennae. Its extreme manifestation is the partial or complete loss of wings by females (some she-bears, volnyanka, moths) or even limbs (bagworms).
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Butterflies are insects with complete metamorphosis (see Insects).
Larvae (caterpillars) are worm-shaped, with a separate head capsule, gnawing mouthparts and developed silk glands. The secret secreted by them is used for weaving a cocoon, as well as fastening leaves, building nests and shelters. They have 3 pairs of thoracic and 5 pairs of abdominal, or false, legs (the latter are sometimes partially or completely reduced).
To protect against predators, various devices are used - from protruding odorous glands (sailfish) to poisonous hairs that cause severe irritation when it comes into contact with the skin (cocoonworms, wolffish, bears).
They feed mainly on leaves, to a lesser extent on other parts of plants, rarely on wood, sometimes on substrates of plant, less often animal origin (wool - clothes moth Tineola bisselliella, wax - wax moth Galleria mellonella).
caterpillars of some tropical species pigeons, scoops and moths prey on aphids and coccids; insectivorous caterpillars are also found in the moths of the genus Eupithecia from the Hawaiian Islands. Many species of the family Lycaenidae and Riodinidae form symbiosis with ants.
Aquatic forms of caterpillars with tracheal gills are known (from the superfamily Fire-like). Pupation occurs openly or in a silk cocoon on a fodder plant, in a food substrate, under stones, moss, or in the soil, sometimes in anthills (many pigeons).
The resting stage - the pupa - is usually covered type (wings, antennae, legs and mouth parts are soldered to the body); in the most primitive forms they are free and capable of movement.
Adult butterflies are diurnal, twilight or night image life. They feed on the nectar of flowers, the flowing juice of trees, rotting fruits and other decaying organic matter; many butterflies are found on animal droppings and carcasses or on damp soil.
Primary toothed moths feed on pollen. Some butterflies specialize in feeding on the lacrimal fluid of ungulates and proboscis; the moth Calpe eustrigata (Southeast Asia) is reliably known as a bloodsucker.
The way of life and behavior of butterflies is far from being fully studied. During the period of sexual activity, males of many species of diurnal butterflies show pronounced territoriality: occupying a certain area, they patrol it in search of females and drive away competitors. Some butterflies are capable of migrating long distances; the most famous is the North American monarch danaid (Danaus plexippus), returning to the places of mass wintering in Mexico and California.
The number of generations per year is different for different butterflies. Species that develop in wood can give 1 generation in 2-3 years. Winter diapause (rest period) occurs at different stages of development - from egg to adult (some nymphalids); butterflies living in arid regions often experience summer diapause (estivation).
The classification of the order at the level above the family has not been fully developed; according to modern concepts, there are at least 4 suborders, with a system of infraorders.
The group of families of true diurnal butterflies (superfamily Papilionoidea) includes the largest and beautiful views which are a favorite collectible. Many butterflies, especially tropical butterflies, are traded and bred for special displays of live butterflies. Due to the threat of extinction, a number of species of butterflies are listed in the Red Books of many countries, including Russia; conservation of these species requires conservation and restoration natural places their habitats.
Many butterflies are plant pollinators.
Some species of butterflies are pests in everyday life (clothes moth), beekeeping (wax moth) or damage food stocks (grain moth Nemapogon granella, Plodia interpunctella moth, Ephestia kuehniella, etc.); during the period of mass reproduction can seriously harm agriculture, forestry and horticulture (winter and cotton scoops, corn borer, gypsy moth, nun, Siberian silkworm, American white butterfly, oak leafworm, shoots, codling moths, etc.).
Of the economically important species, the domesticated silkworm is the most famous, from the cocoons of which natural silk; to a lesser extent, Chinese oak and ailanthus silkworms are bred, producing silk of the chesuchi type.
Lit .: Kuznetsov N.Ya.
Lepidoptera insects. Pg.; L., 1915-1929. T. 1. Issue. 2; Key to insects of the European part of the USSR. L., 1978-1986. T. 4. Ch. 1-3: Lepidoptera; Smart R. The illustrated encyclopedia of the butterfly world. N.Y., 1989.
A.L. Devyatkin.
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera, or butterflies, are one of the most numerous orders of insects from the type of arthropods. characteristic feature of all representatives of the detachment is the presence of a scaly multi-colored cover of the wings.
Currently, about 150 thousand species are known, distributed throughout the globe except for Antarctica.
The fauna of tropical regions is especially rich in diverse, brightly colored butterflies. The order Lepidoptera includes two suborders: homoptera and heteroptera. The latter include most of the butterflies now known. These are colorful moths, peacock-eyes, night butterflies, nymphalids, moths, as well as inconspicuous moths, garden pests - leafworms, etc.
reproduction.
Insects of this order are characterized by a complete transformation in the process of development, that is, a larva hatches from an egg that does not look like an adult. Larvae (caterpillars) have a gnawing type of mouth apparatus and an elongated body. In addition to three pairs of thoracic legs, the larva has 2-5 pairs of abdominal prolegs - non-segmented oblong formations with claws at the ends.
The larvae of many species, such as the apple moth, form web nests where several individuals feed together and hide from enemies. The salivary glands of the caterpillar, in addition to saliva, also secrete silk threads, from which it weaves a protective cocoon for the chrysalis, into which the larva turns after several molts.
After a certain period, a fully formed adult insect (imago) emerges from the pupa. Lepidoptera imagoes are characterized by a short lifespan - from several hours (in non-feeding species) to several months.
Nutrition.
Types of butterflies: appearance, varieties, structure of the insect
The annual development cycles of butterflies different types are different.
Most species give one generation per year, some two or more. The vast majority of Lepidoptera are nocturnal, some species are active during the daytime.
Structure. The sizes of representatives of the Lepidoptera order vary widely - from 2 mm to 15 cm. The smallest butterfly is a baby moth that lives in the Canary Islands, the largest is the Maaka sailboat, common in Europe.
Like other insects, the body is divided into head, thorax and abdomen.
The outer strong chitinous cover forms the outer skeleton.
All adults have two pairs of wings covered with modified scale hairs. These scales determine the pattern and coloration of the wings, thanks to a combination of colored and colorless scales that refract the sun's rays and give the wings a metallic sheen. The color of the wings can be bright, scaring off enemies, or faded, adaptive (for mimicry). All butterflies fly well, some are capable of long flights.
The oral apparatus of butterflies is of a sucking type and is a plastic, spirally twisted proboscis, for feeding on liquid substances, in particular, flower nectar.
Some moths are devoid of a proboscis, they have mouth organs of a gnawing type. There are antennae of various sizes and shapes - the organs of smell and touch. Large compound eyes located on the sides of the head are well developed. The presence of a hearing aid and organs of taste is characteristic.
All butterflies are dioecious. Some species show sexual dimorphism.
Meaning of Lepidoptera in nature and human life is huge.
Adult butterflies are excellent plant pollinators. But caterpillars of many species (for example, gypsy moth, white cabbage, apple moth) harm crop plants. Sometimes caterpillars of certain species are used in weed control. The mulberry and oak Chinese silkworm has long been bred by man to produce silk.
Many large butterflies attract with their beauty, for example, swallowtail, Apollo. Entomological collections, both private and scientific, have been collected for a long time. With the increase in the number of collectors, butterfly farms have even been established in some countries. More than 100 species of butterflies are on the verge of extinction and are listed in the Red Book.
