Butterflies

Butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, which contains at least one former group, the skippers (formerly the superfamily "Hesperioidea") and the most recent analyses suggest it also contains the moth-butterflies (formerly the superfamily "Hedyloidea"). Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, which was about 56 million years ago.

Butterflies have the typical four-stage insect life cycle. Winged adults lay eggs on the food plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars, will feed. The caterpillars grow, sometimes very rapidly, and when fully developed, pupate in a chrysalis. When metamorphosis is complete, the pupal skin splits, the adult insect climbs out, and after its wings have expanded and dried, it flies off. Some butterflies, especially in the tropics, have several generations in a year, while others have a single generation, and a few in cold locations may take several years to pass through their whole life cycle.

Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.
In this Collection! Alcides Orontes Alpine Black Swallowtail Animals Art Art Gallery Artist artwork Aurora Morpho Baby Bear Baeotus Baeotus Bear Cub Bear in Tree Big Eye Spots Black Blue Blue Dots Blue Peacock Blue Spotted Blues Bright Colors Brown Brown Accented Butterfly Brown Art Brown Edges Browns Butterfly Butterfly Art Butterfly Artwork Butterfly Portrait Canvas Wall Art Cecropia Moth Charaxes Analava Underside Checkered Swallowtail Claudina Agrias Underside Clipper Butterfly Clown Butterfly Underside Cmothoe Oemilius Collector Art Comet Moth Common Archduke Common Clubtail Common Green Birdwing Common Green Charaxes Common Pink Forester Underside Common Red Glider Cracker Butterfly Cub Custom Framed Dallen Lambson Deidama Morpho 2 Deidama Morpho Underside Discounts Fine Art Fivebar Swordtail Forest Mother of Pearl FREE Collectors Club Free Shipping Gallery4Collectors Giclee Canvas Giclee Canvas Prints Godarts Morpho Gold Golden Golden Birdwing Golden colors Golden with Dots Golden Yellow Goliath Birdwing Gorgeous Great Blue Swallowtail Great Blue Swallowtail Top Underside Green Green Swallowtail Green Veined Emperor Hadrians White Charaxes Harlequin Butterfly Home Decor Home D‚cor Home D�cor Indian Leaf Butterfly Investment Art Irridescent White Limited Edition Prints Living Room Artwork Madagascan Swallowtail Madagascar Diadem Madagascar Green Veined Charaxes Made in the USA Malay Lacewing Monarch Butterfly Multi-color Multi-colored Multi-colored Butterfly Multicolor Multicolored Multicolors Nature Nature Art No Sales Tax Nomion Apollo Office Decor Online Gallery Online Gallery of Art Orange Orange Coloring Owlet Moth Painted Beauty Painted Beauty Underside Pansy Daggerwing Paper Prints Papilio Lormieri Peacock Butterfly Pink Pink Dots Pink Glasswing Pink Spots Art Prepona Praeneste Confusa Priams Birdwing Prints Purple Purple Spotted Swallowtail Red Red Lacewing Red Mormon Red Spots Rice Paper Butterfly Richard Reynolds Rose Common Shades of Brown Shining Red Charaxes Sulkowski Blue Sunset Morpho Swallowtail Butterfly Tan The Constable Tiger Common Trajans Forest Queen Unknown Verso Urania Riphens Usshers Palla Wall Art Wallaces Golden Birdwing White White Dots Wildlife Wildlife Artwork Yellow