Butterfly Genus Species Photos And Facts

Looking for photos and facts about the butterfly genus species? Then here are some photos and information about butterflies.


First of all, butterflies are members of the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, and order Lepidoptera. In general, the order Lepidoptera is divided into two sub-orders: Heterocera (varied-antennaed) and Rhopalocera (club-antennaed). The latter sub-order is where butterflies belong.

The Rhopalocera sub-order has 3 superfamilies: Hesperioidea (skipper butterflies), Hedyloidea (moth-butterflies) and Papilionoidea (true butterflies). Furthermore, the true butterfly superfamily extends to 5 families of butterflies: Papilionidae, Pieridae, Lycaenidae, Riodinidae, and Nymphalidae.


The large and colorful Swallowtail, Apollo, and Birdwing butterflies belong to Papilionidae. While most white and yellow butterflies that live in Asia and Africa belong to the Pieridae family.

There are 6,000 species of butterflies that belong to the Lycaenidae family. They are also called the gossamer-winged butterflies. Blues, coppers, hairstreaks, and harvesters are the main Lycaenidae subfamilies.


There are 1,000 species that belong to the Riodinidae family. These butterflies often have metallic spots on their wings, thus the nickname metalmarks. On the other hand, the Nymphalidae family are called the brush-footed butterflies. This family have underwings that are less vibrant or darker which looks like dead leaves.


Finally, the Nymphalidae family is the most popular of butterflies. Some of those who belong to this are the monarch, tortoiseshells, emperor, fritillaries, and admirals.

A few of the genus and species of Nymphalidae butterflies are:
Monarch butterfly - Danaus plexipus
Painted Lady - Vanessa cardui
Red Admiral - Vanessa atalanta
Small Tortoiseshell - Nymphalis urticae
California Tortoiseshell - Nymphalis californica
Blue Morpho - Morpho menelau
Question Mark - Polygonia interrogationis
Mourning Cloak - Nymphalis antiopa
Marsh Fritillary - Euphydryas aurinia
Peacock - Inachis io
Small Heath - Coenonympha pamphilus


I hope you found this post about the butterfly genus species helpful. For more information about butterflies, you can go and visit factsaboutbutterflies.net