Butterflies are insects from the Lepidoptera group.
A butterfly is an insect with four wings , usually brightly colored. This animal is part of the Lepidoptera : those species that, in addition to two pairs of wings with scales, have a sucking mouth with a proboscis and undergo complete metamorphosis .
In its juvenile phase, the butterfly is a larva or caterpillar . It then becomes a pupa and over time develops the characteristics that define it as an adult, such as wings and the mouthpart with the proboscis that allows it to access the nectar it extracts from flowers.
Characteristics of butterflies
Although there are many species of butterflies, most are herbivorous. They eat flowers, leaves, roots and stems as caterpillars and finally the nectar. Some types of butterflies, however, are carnivorous.
To reproduce, males perform different courtship displays. Typically, they display themselves to the female and produce pheromones . The scent of these pheromones ends up covering the female.
Life expectancy
One of the aspects of butterflies that attracts us the most is their life expectancy . Generally, as children we are taught that they live only one day; telling this to a small child always has a very particular impact, considering that our species usually lives for over seventy years. But this fact is not entirely accurate, at least not for all species.
First of all, it should be noted that the size of a butterfly species is directly proportional to its life expectancy : while the smallest can live for just a few hours, the largest can live for over ten months. Among the species that live the longest are the Monarchs , certain tropical Heliconius and the Mourning Cloaks .
A determining factor in this regard is the climate . For example, if a butterfly lays its eggs when cold weather is about to arrive, the eggs will only be born when the warm weather returns; on the other hand, adult butterflies can hibernate to cope with low temperatures, extending their life for several months, even longer than they would naturally live in a temperate or warm climate.
Butterflies are often the protagonists of legends and myths.
Legends with butterflies
The butterfly has a very important place in the universe of myths and legends , partly because of its short life but also because of its beauty, its physical transformation and the feeling of freedom it evokes in us. Below we will see a summary of an ancient Japanese legend entitled The Blue Butterfly .
Many years ago, a man lost his wife and had to take care of his two daughters, whose curiosity was insatiable. Every day they overwhelmed him with dozens of questions, many of which he could not answer due to lack of knowledge. For this reason, he decided to take them to a wise man. When they arrived, one of the girls caught a blue butterfly to test the wise man, whom she asked if it was still alive; he replied that everything depended on her, since "it was in his hands.".
The term in swimming
In the field of swimming , butterfly is a style that consists of moving the legs down and up together while both arms simultaneously develop a forward rotation movement.
The butterfly stroke is considered a variation of the breaststroke. The swimmer must bring his arms above the water and then back, both together and at the same time . In the meantime, he must make an undulating movement of the hips that ends with kicks.
The men's world record for the 100 metres (in a 50-metre pool) in the butterfly stroke is held by American Caeleb Dressel , who in 2021 achieved a mark of 49.45 seconds . Among female swimmers, the record for the 100 metres in a 50-metre pool was set by Sweden's Sarah Sjöström in 2016: 55.48 seconds .