Butterflies LEVELED BOOK • S and Moths Butterflies and Moths A Reading A–Z Level S Leveled Book Word Count: 1,303 Written by Kira Freed Visit www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials. Photo Credits: Front cover, back cover, title page, pages 3, 5, 11 (bottom), 13, 15 (bottom),16 (top), 17, 18, 19, 20: © Jupiterimages Corporation; page 4: © Dean Uhlinger/Corbis; pages 6 (both), 7 (both): © Hemera Technologies/Jupiterimages Corporation; page 8 (top): © FLPA/Alamy; page 8 (bottom): © Nigel Cattlin/Alamy, page 9: © Papilio/ Butterflies and Moths Alamy; page 10: © Barry Turner/Alamy; page 11 (top): © Andrew Darrington/Alamy; page 12: © Corbis Bridge/Alamy; page 14: © iStockphoto.com/William Britten; page 15 (top): © Cathy Keifer/Dreamstime.com; page 16 (bottom): © Gilbert S. Grant/ Photo Researchers, Inc. Butterflies and Moths Level S Leveled Book © Learning A–Z Correlation Written by Kira Freed Written by Kira Freed LEVEL S Illustrations by Cende Hill Fountas & Pinnell O All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 34 DRA 34 www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com Introduction Butterflies and moths can be beautiful to watch . People plant gardens to attract butterflies . Butterflies at zoos and city gardens draw large crowds . However, no one builds a garden to attract moths . Many people think of moths as pests . So, how are butterflies and moths the same, and how are they different? What makes a butterfly a butterfly? What makes a moth a moth? To answer these questions, we need to learn Table of Contents about their body Introduction . 4 parts, life cycle, and behavior . What Are Butterflies and Moths? . 5 Life Cycle . 8 Do You Know? Life as an Adult . 13 The largest butterfly in the world is the Queen Conclusion . 18 Alexandra’s birdwing. From wingtip to wingtip Glossary . 19 it can be as wide as 30 cm (12 in). It is found in Index . 20 Papua New Guinea. Butterflies and Moths • Level S 3 4 What Are Butterflies and Moths? Butterflies and moths have many of the same body parts, so it is easy to see why Butterflies and moths are insects . Like all people have trouble telling them apart . insect species, they are invertebrates, which means they have no backbone . Instead, they antenna have a hard skin, called an exoskeleton, that protects their soft insides . They also have head six legs, a body divided into three parts, two antennae, and two compound eyes . thorax Their wings are covered with scales, abdomen which are like fine, flat hairs . These scales wings butterfly moth protect the wings from getting too wet and help them hold in heat . Butterflies cannot fly if they are too cold . They often sit in the sun to Head • Compound eyes made up of many warm up before flying . smaller eyes allowing them to see all around them scales • Antennae to smell and to sense movement wings • Mouth is a long tube for sucking nectar Do You Know? More than 165,000 Thorax • Two pairs of wings kinds, or species, of • Three pairs of legs butterflies and moths antenna exist. Most of these are • Breathing holes eye moths. It is believed that Abdomen • Digestive organs another 100,000 species tube-like exist that have not been mouth • Reproductive organs studied or identified. body legs • Breathing holes Butterflies and Moths • Level S 5 6 However, butterflies and moths are also Life Cycle different from each other in many ways . The After a pair of male and female butterflies next time you find a butterfly or moth, use or moths mate, the female lays her eggs . She this chart to help you tell which kind of insect lays them on or near leaves, twigs, or flowers you have found . so that her young will have something to eat when they hatch . Butterflies Moths Most are active during Most are active at night. the day. Most are dull in color. Lobster moth egg Most are brightly colored. “Fat, furry” body Skinny body without “fur” Plain or feathery anten- Most have antennae with nae knobs. Most rest with their wings Most rest with their wings spread out flat at the above their body. sides of their body. Enlarged lobe on each Tiny hook or bristle that hind wing that provides links each forewing and overlap hindwing while in flight White butterfly eggs Butterflies and Moths • Level S 7 8 The life of caterpillars is filled with danger . They are food for many larger animals, such as lizards, birds, bats, and small mammals . Caterpillars have many interesting ways to protect themselves from being eaten . Some caterpillars have spines and other hairs that make them taste bad to predators . Others have colors or patterns on their bodies A swallowtail caterpillar crawls out of its egg. that make them appear more dangerous than they are . Caterpillars also can be masters at When eggs hatch, caterpillars come out . hiding, blending in with their background, This begins the larval stage of the butterfly or staying still until night comes, or until the and moth life cycle . Caterpillars have chewing danger goes away . mouth parts and can eat 27,000 times their body weight during their lifetime . Their egg The swallowtail butterfly caterpillar has case is often their first meal, followed by the red horns that release a leaf or flower they’re on, and then the rest of strong odor to keep the plant . away predators . Many caterpillars feed on A caterpillar’s job is to eat and grow . As plants that make them it grows, its skin becomes tight and breaks taste bad to birds and away . A new skin grows in its place to allow other enemies . These the caterpillar to get bigger . This is called caterpillars often are molting . A caterpillar molts four or five times brightly colored to warn during its life . The caterpillar is fully grown others: Do not eat me! after about two weeks . Owl butterfly caterpillar Butterflies and Moths • Level S 9 10 Just a few hours after the pupal stage begins, Do You Know? different mouth parts, legs, new muscles, and The pupa cannot move tiny wings begin to form . The change from pupa to escape predators. Many butterfly chrysalises are to adult can take a few weeks . The entire change well hidden by looking from egg to larva to pupa, and then to adult, is like a dead leaf or piece of called metamorphosis . bark. Some chrysalises are poisonous and are brightly When the adult is fully formed, it breaks colored to tell predators that they are not good to eat. out of the case . Its wings, which are damp and crumpled, must expand, dry, and harden before This Puss moth cocoon blends in with tree the insect can fly . When the butterfly or moth bark to keep predators from seeing it. comes out of butterfly its chrysalis, it (adult) When a caterpillar is fully grown, it enters is adult in size the pupal stage . In this stage, a caterpillar and will not slowly changes into an adult . It appears dead grow any more . from the outside, but amazing changes are happening inside . Do You Know? The caterpillars of most butterflies enter chrysalis For most butterflies and this stage by sticking their back end onto (pupa) moths, life is short! Adults live for two weeks to two a twig, leaf, or other object . The last molt months, except for the leaves a soft pupal skin that hardens into monarch, which can live from nine to twelve months. a case called a chrysalis . The caterpillars caterpillar of many moths go through the pupal stage (larva) This photo shows underground or on the ground . Others spin three stages of a cocoon to protect themselves . metamorphosis. Butterflies and Moths • Level S 11 12 Adult butterflies and moths, like Do You Know? caterpillars, have many ways to hide to stay Lantana and butterfly safe from predators . Some have patterns on bush are great plants their wings that help them to blend in with for attracting beautiful butterflies to your garden. nature . Many patterns look exactly like leaves If you want to attract moths or flowers . Other butterflies and moths have at night, try smearing bright patterns on their wings, such as spots mashed banana and honey on a tree trunk. Keep that look like eyes, to scare away enemies . watch with a flashlight. Some, such as the monarch butterfly, are brightly colored to warn predators that they A monarch feeds on butterfly bush. taste bad . Life as an Adult SPOTLIGHT ON: Buckeye Butterfly Adult butterflies and moths come in many Wingspan: 4.2 to 7 cm shapes, sizes, and colors . Many butterflies are (1.7– 2.8 in) brightly colored, but others are white or light Range: North America, colored . While many moths have dull colors, from southern Canada some, such as the luna moth, have amazing to southern Mexico colors or patterns . Appearance: The wings Adult butterflies and moths have many of the buckeye butterfly have large eyespots of enemies . They need to be as careful as black, blue, and yellow. The eyespots look like the eyes of a large animal. A predator may be scared caterpillars not to get eaten . Even though when the buckeye shakes its wings and flashes adult butterflies and moths can fly, many its eyespots. This may give the butterfly an extra animals that hunt them—such as birds and second or two to fly away before being eaten. bats—can fly, too . Butterflies and Moths • Level S 13 14 SPOTLIGHT ON: Luna Moth Butterflies have a good sense of sight, but a poor sense of smell .