Butterflies

Plant / pollenated
adult of Papilionoidea pollenates or fertilises flower of Gymnadenia conopsea

Plant / pollenated
adult of Papilionoidea pollenates or fertilises flower of Platanthera chlorantha

Plant / pollenated
adult of Papilionoidea pollenates or fertilises flower of Platanthera bifolia

Plant / pollenated
adult of Papilionoidea pollenates or fertilises flower of Anacamptis pyramidalis

Butterfliesare brightly colored flying insects with two pairs of large wings that vary in color and pattern from species to species. Butterfly wings are covered with overlapping rows of tiny scales, a characteristic butterflies share with their fellow lepidopterans, the moths. A caterpillar’s first meal is its own eggshell. It then spends most of its time eating the leaves of the plant on which it hatched. An adult butterfly uncoils its long, straw-like proboscis to sip nectar from flowers, juice from rotting fruit and water from puddles.