Unlike moths, butterflies are active during the day and are usually brightly colored or strikingly patterned. Perhaps the most distinctive physical features of the butterfly are its club-tipped antennae and its habit of holding the wings vertically over the back when at rest.

Discover 40 Types of Butterflies with detailed identification tips, behavior, habitats, diets, and life cycles.

Welcome to Butterflies of America! a website devoted to the study and enjoyment of American butterflies. Currently, we show 160,500 images and list over 8,300 species, and these numbers are growing every day.

Butterflies are insects characterized by a pair of large, often vibrantly colored wings, which are covered with scales. They belong to the superfamily Papilionoidea within the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths.

What kinds of butterflies can you find in the United States? I love watching butterflies in my neighborhood! It’s amazing to see the incredible variety of different colors, patterns, and sizes. There are hundreds of kinds of butterflies in the United States (approximately 750)! Since it would be impossible to list them all in one article, I chose the most common and exciting species to share ...

Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterised by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossils have been dated to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago, though molecular evidence suggests that they likely originated in the Cretaceous. [1 ...