Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A monarch butterfly ( Danaus plexippus) caterpillar feeding on an unopened seed pod of swamp milkweed. Caterpillars ( / ˈkætərpɪlər / KAT-ər-pil-ər) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths ). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the ...
Lepidoptera (/ ˌ l ɛ p ɪ ˈ d ɒ p t ər ə / LEP-ih-DOP-tər-ə) or lepidopterans is an order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths.About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organisms, [1] [2] making it the second largest insect order (behind Coleoptera) with 126 families [3] and 46 superfamilies ...
Moths also are eaten by some species of lizards, amphibians, cats, dogs, rodents, and some bears. Moth larvae are vulnerable to being parasitized by Ichneumonidae . Baculoviruses are parasite double-stranded DNA insect viruses that are used mostly as biological control agents.
The most diverse insect orders are the Hemiptera (true bugs), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Diptera (true flies), Hymenoptera (wasps, ants, and bees), and Coleoptera (beetles), each with more than 100,000 described species.
Butterfly larvae, or caterpillars, consume plant leaves and spend practically all of their time searching for and eating food. Although most caterpillars are herbivorous, a few species are predators: Spalgis epius eats scale insects, [48] while lycaenids such as Liphyra brassolis are myrmecophilous, eating ant larvae. [49]
Tent caterpillars exhibit boom-or-bust population dynamics. The most notorious of the outbreak species is the forest tent caterpillar. During outbreaks, the caterpillars can become so abundant that they are capable of completely defoliating tens of thousands of acres of forest.
A cocoon is a casing spun of silk by many moths and caterpillars, [16] and numerous other holometabolous insect larvae as a protective covering for the pupa. Cocoons may be tough or soft, opaque or translucent, solid or meshlike, of various colors, or composed of multiple layers, depending on the type of insect larva producing it.
Adult moths are ash-gray and about 1 ½-inches wide. The front wings are smaller and gray and brown, while the back wings are larger and white with a brown edge. The moths are active at night and ...