Butterflies

Some eastern monarch butterflies travel about 3,000 miles to reach their overwintering sites in Mexico.

Hand-Reared Monarch Butterflies Are Weaker Than Their Wild Cousins

In the wild, only about one in 20 caterpillars grows up to be a butterfly

Western monarch butterflies spend winter gathered in California's coastal groves.

Your Butterfly Photos Could Help Monarch Conservation

As monarchs leave their winter hideaways, conservationists are seeking assistance in studying their migration routes

Heliconius charithonia is one of the species of butterflies whose wing patterns scientists scrutinized to better understand the evolutionary process. This butterfly is wild-type; the genetically edited H. charithonia wings have wider swathes of yellow.

What Butterflies' Colorful Wing Patterns Can Teach Us About Evolution

Smithsonian scientists used genetically-engineered butterflies to learn that evolution can take a different path to achieve the same thing

Curious sculptures have popped up throughout the Smithsonian campus in its gardens and are meant to show the inner-workings and relationships of insect and plant habitats.

The Gardens Around the National Mall Are Growing Giant Nests and Fanciful Tunnels

The new exhibition “Habitat” is a whimsical, art-filled lesson on ecosystems and how they work

This moth specimen was mistakenly identified as a butterfly in 1793, leaving biologists to wonder what happened to the missing "butterfly" for more than 200 years.

One of the 'Rarest Butterflies Ever' May Have Been a Moth All Along

A species description from more than two centuries ago has fooled scientists until now

Heliconius cydno chioneus

The Reason These Poisonous Butterflies Don't Mate Is Written in Their DNA

Wing color and mate preference seem to be genetically bound, leading these tropical butterflies to only choose mates that look like them

The Gulf fritillary butterfly is one of many that call the sanctuary home.

Border Wall Construction Threatens Texas Butterfly Sanctuary

Construction vehicles and law enforcement arrived at the National Butterfly Center on Sunday, sparking confusion among staff members

New Butterfly Species Named After 17th-Century Female Naturalist

Maria Sibylla Merian documented the lifecycles of moths and butterflies with unprecedented accuracy

Moths Love Sipping the Salty Tears of Sleeping Birds

A researcher in the Amazon happened up on the rare sight in the dead of night while looking for reptiles and amphibians

A monarch on tropical milkweed.

How This Popular Garden Plant May Spread Parasites That Harm Monarchs

Non-native tropical milkweed encourage year-round monarch populations which harbor a deadly parasite for the imperiled insect

What's the Difference Between Moths and Butterflies and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

This Butterfly Recently Returned to Scotland. Now, It’s Laying Eggs

The white-letter hairstreak, which is native to the UK, had disappeared from Scotland for more than a century

The Oldest Known Butterflies Existed Before Flowers

A new study raises intriguing questions about the evolutionary trajectory of butterflies and moths

The wings of a normal and CRISPR-edited Sara Longwing butterfly show how disabling a single gene can change the patterns

Scientists Identify the Genes That Paint Butterfly Wings

Using genetic editing, scientists isolated just two genes that play a major role in making butterfly wings as pretty as they are

Monarch butterflies nesting in California in the winters have declined rapidly since 1981

West Coast Monarch Butterflies Flutter Toward Extinction

Since 1981, the butterfly's numbers have declined 97 percent according to a new survey

Spectacular Footage of a Butterfly Leaving Its Cocoon

The transition from caterpillar to butterfly is a process that consists of four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult

Mexican Police Raid Sawmills to Protect Monarch Butterfly Habitat

Federal authorities closed down seven illegal logging operations near the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán

Euploea butterflies gather in force in valleys around the country.

Where to See Thousands of Fluttering Butterflies in Taiwan

There's a reason Taiwan is known as the "butterfly kingdom"

How Do Butterflies Fly and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

The dorsal side of Oneis tanana, which could be the only butterfly species endemic to the Alaskan Arctic.

A New Species of Butterfly Was Hiding in Plain Sight

The Tanana Arctic could be a rare butterfly hybrid—and it’s the first such find in nearly 30 years

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