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  • Animals
    • Insects of Thailand >
      • Coleoptera - Beetles
      • Hemiptera - True Bugs
      • Lepidoptera - Butterflies
      • Lepidoptera - Moths
      • Odonata - Dragonflies & Damselflies
      • Hymenoptera - Bees, Wasps & Ants
      • Mantodea - Mantids
      • Phasmatodea - Stick Insects
      • Orthoptera - Grasshoppers, Katydids and Crickets
      • Blattodea - Cockroaches
      • Diptera and other Fly families
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      • Araneae - Spiders
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      • Opiliones - Harvestmen
      • Thelyphonida - Whip Scorpions
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Lepidoptera Butterflies of Thailand.jpg

Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758

Butterflies

Home > Insects > Lepidoptera - Butterflies
​Kingdom: Animalia
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera

Butterflies are part of the class of insects in the order Lepidoptera, along with the moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, along with two smaller groups, the skippers (superfamily Hesperioidea) and the moth-butterflies (superfamily Hedyloidea). Butterfly fossils date to the Palaeocene, 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. Wikipedia

​Superfamily: Papilionoidea Latreille, 1802​
​Families: Hesperiidae, Lycaenidae, Nymphalidae, Papilionidae​, Pieridae
Hesperiidae of Thailand.jpg

Hesperiidae
 Skippers 

Lycaenidae of Thailand.jpg

Lycaenidae
 Gossamer-winged Butterflies 

Nymphalidae of Thailand.jpg

Nymphalidae
 Brush-footed Butterflies​ 

Papilionidae of Thailand.jpg

Papilionidae​
 Swallowtail Butterflies​ 

Pieridae of Thailand.jpg

Pieridae
 Whites, Sulphurs & Yellows​ 

Butterfly caterpillars of Thailand.jpg

Caterpillars
 ​Butterfly & Moth 

Please note that individual species identifications do not necessarily represent the opinion of all contributors.

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