To view photos of Moths and Butterflies, click on the appropriate icon in the Lepidoptera sub-menu.
Butterflies and moths belong to the large group of insects called Lepidoptera from the Greek lepis meaning scale and pteron meaning wing. Scales are modified hairs and usually contain a pigment that gives the butterfly or moth its colour. The surface of a scale is finely ridged and these ridges can become close enough to interfere with reflected light from the wing to produce their striking iridescent sheens.
The division of Lepidoptera into moths and butterflies is one of common usage and observation. There is no scientific separation of the two. Indeed, in the Linnaean system of classification, butterflies are situated around the middle of the listing for moths. In other European countries there is less distinction; for example, the French call moths "butterflies of the night". There is as much variation within different groups of moths as there is between moths and butterflies. In Europe there is a convenient way to distinguish moths from butterflies… all our butterflies have clubbed antennae whereas moths have a variety of shapes and only the burnet moths have clubbed antennae.
In the UK we can find about 70 species of butterfly. There are some 1600 species of micro-moth with wingspans as small as 5-7mm and 900 macro-moth species with wingspans up to 60mm as have the Hawkmoths. Some tropical species have wingspans of 300mm!