Basic Structure and Vocabulary of Lepidoptera Flashcards
What is the basic anatomy of lepidoptera?
The butterfly is made up of three body parts, like most insects; the head, the thorax, and abdomen. They have compound eyes.
What is something unique about lepidoptera?
Lepidoptera are the only insects who have scaly wings. The wings are attached to the mid-section of the thorax.
How do the wings support themselves or in other words, retain some strength?
There are veins on the wings which supply lepidoptera with blood.
What is the internal temperature of Lepidoptera?
Lepidoptera usually need to have a body temperature above 86 degrees to survive.
What is the caterpillar’s first meal after being born?
The egg that they hatched from.Only a few caterpillars are meat-eaters,; the larva of the carnivorous Harvester butterfly eats wooly aphids.
How do lepidoptera eat?
They can only sip food using a tube-like proboscis, which is a long flexible “tongue”. Aa they eat, the proboscis uncurls and the butterfly drinks, only to coil it back up again.
How does the harvester butterfly feed on aphids?
It uses its sharp proboscis to pierce the body of aphids and proceeds to drink its body fluids.
Where does the name lepidoptera come from?
The name lepidoptera comes from the greek word Lepidos, which means “scales” and ptera means “wing”.
How many different species of Lepidoptera are there?
There are more different species of butterfly than any other insect except for beetles, It is is estimated that there are 150,000 different species of butterflies and moths (there may be many more). There are 28,000 butterfly species, the rest are moths.
What are the origins of the butterfly?
The earliest fossils we have of butterflies are from the early Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago. This new insect is commonly attributed to the evolution of flowering plants (angiosperms) since both adult butterflies and caterpillars feed on flowering plants, and adults are important pollinators of flowering plants.
What is the exoskeleton of the butterfly made of?
Chitin, a type of protein.
How do lepidoptera breathe?
Lepidoptera breathe using spiracles (there are 9 pairs in butterflies), which are pores open to the air and trachea (air tubs)which carry air throughout the body. Gas exchange occurs at the tiny ends of the trachea. This very ineffecient system limits the size of butterflies by a lot. Spiracles are located on the abdomen and thorax.
How do lepidoptera spread blood throughout their bodies?
Their heart is long at tubular (dorsal vessel) and hemocoel (the primary body cavity in most invertebrates which allows the flow of circulatory liquids).
