Butterfly or Moth You see a flash of wings in the sky Is the creature you see a butterfly or a moth Sometimes it is hard to tell These two animals have a lot in common But even though some things about them are the same there are also many ways to tell which animal is which Let’s take a closer look at butterflies and moths 4
Diadem butterfly Luna moth 5
Amazing Insects Butterflies and moths are both members of the insect family There are more insects on Earth than any another species of animal Insects have many special features One of the most important things about insects is that their bodies are made up of three parts These parts are the abdomen the thorax and the head Insects also have their skeletons on the outside of their bodies instead of the inside An insect’s skeleton is a hard shell that protects the soft organs inside With butterflies and moths the wings hold the skeleton Butterflies and moths are part of an order of insects called Lepidoptera This is a Greek word meaning scale wing There are 120 different families of moths but only six different families of butterflies 6
Now You KNow There are about 250,000 different species of Lepidoptera but only about 20,000 of them are butterflies Purple-edged copper butterfly Head Thorax Abdomen 7
