Butterfly fact sheet | Field of Mars EEC

What are butterflies?

Butterflies are insects in the order Lepidoptera. Their wings are covered with tiny overlapping scales, which help create their colours and patterns. Adult butterflies usually have two pairs of wings, clubbed antennae and a long tube-like mouthpart called a proboscis for drinking liquids such as nectar. Caterpillars have chewing mouthparts and mostly feed on plants. Butterflies are usually active during the day and often rest with their wings held upright.

A butterfly.

Blue triangle butterflies have colourful scaled wings.

Where do butterflies live?

Butterflies live in many habitats, but each species needs the right caterpillar food plants as well as flowers and shelter for adults. At Field of Mars Reserve, butterflies are likely to use the reserve’s eucalypt forest, gully forest and wetland edges, as well as sunny openings, shrubs and garden-like flowering areas around the bushland. Different species use different parts of the habitat. Some fly through urban gardens and woodland edges, while others stay low in grassy places or around native shrubs.

Black jezebel butterflies live in bushland and flowering plant habitats.

What do butterflies eat?

Adult butterflies drink liquid food using their proboscis. Nectar from flowers is their main food source. Caterpillars are very different. They have strong chewing mouthparts and mostly feed on leaves or other plant parts. Some adults do not feed for long and rely on energy stored from the caterpillar stage, but for most students it is simplest to think of butterflies as nectar feeders and caterpillars as plant eaters.

Butterflies drink nectar using a proboscis.

What is the life cycle of a butterfly?

Butterflies go through complete metamorphosis, which means they change body form completely as they grow. A butterfly begins life as an egg laid on or near a food plant. The egg hatches into a caterpillar, which eats, grows and moults several times. It then forms a pupa, often called a chrysalis. Inside the chrysalis, metamorphosis takes place and the caterpillar changes into an adult butterfly. When the adult emerges, its wings are soft at first. The wings expand and dry before the butterfly can fly away.

Monarch (wanderer) butterfly caterpillar feeds on its host plant.

Monarch (wanderer) butterfly chrysalis hangs before an adult emerges.

Monarch (wanderer) butterfly recently emerged from a chrysalis.

What adaptations do butterflies have to help them survive?

Butterflies have many adaptations that help them survive. Their scaly wings can help with camouflage, warning colours and patterning. Clubbed antennae help them sense their surroundings, and their long proboscis helps them reach nectar deep inside flowers. Caterpillars also have special adaptations. Common Grass-blue caterpillars are green and well camouflaged among their food plants. Wanderer caterpillars feed on milkweed plants and absorb toxins that make both the caterpillars and adults distasteful to many predators. Many butterfly pupae rely on camouflage so they are harder to see.

Meadow argus butterflies have wing patterns that help with camouflage and signalling.

Why are butterflies important?

Butterflies are important because they are part of food webs and can also help pollinate flowers when they feed on nectar. Their caterpillars provide food for other animals, and their presence can help show that a habitat still has the plants and shelter needed to support insect life. Protecting butterflies also helps protect the plants and habitats they depend on.

Common grass-blue butterflies are one group of butterflies that help to pollinate flowering plants in Sydney bushland.

How can you help butterflies?

You can help butterflies by protecting native vegetation, planting local flowering plants, and growing host plants for caterpillars as well as nectar plants for adults. Reducing unnecessary insect sprays helps too. Gardens with a variety of native plants, different heights of vegetation and flowers across the year are more useful for insects than simple lawns with little shelter or food.

Butterflies depend on native vegetation for food and shelter.

Related fact sheets

More invertebrate fact sheets

• Invertebrate fact sheets – overview
• Insects fact sheet  – Butterflies are insects with the same basic insect body plan.
• Moth fact sheet – Moths are close relatives in the order Lepidoptera.

Habitats and ecosystems

• Habitat fact sheet – explains how habitats provide food, water, shelter and space.

• Shrub habitat fact sheet – flowering shrubs provide nectar and shelter.

• Tree habitats fact sheet – trees and canopy plants provide food plants, shelter and resting places.

• Eucalypt forest fact sheet – explains the local bushland context.

• Field of Mars Reserve fact sheet – explains the habitat diversity of the reserve.

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