What's the difference between a moth and a butterfly?

Question

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Answer 1

Moth vs. Butterfly

Recently someone asked me the difference between a moth and a butterfly. Although I have explained all of this in the Zoology II book
Though many people assume anything gray or brown is a moth - moths are generally more drab in color - some butterflies are grayish brown and some moths are beautifully colored. However, there are some ways to easily tell the two apart. The first tell-tale sign is their antennae. Butterflies have a knob on the end of a straight stalk. Moths may have needle-like antennea with no knob, or they may be feather-like.

Another difference is the way the animal holds its wings at rest. When a butterfly is resting upon a flower to sip nectar, it holds its wings up over its back, like a woman holding up her long skirts not wanting them to touch the ground. Butterflies don't rest upon flowers when they sip nectar, but they do rest a lot during the day. When you see them, you will notice that their wings lay down flat over their body.

As I mentioned, moths don't land upon flowers to drink, as butterflies do. They tend to hover over the flower, like a hummingbird, and unfurl their proboscis to drink in mid-air. In fact, many times sphinx motha have been mistaken for a hummingbird because of this activity.

A butterfly, on the other hand, must have a landing pad upon which to place their delicate feet.

An interesting animal that most people overlook is the skipper. Skippers are not really butterflies, and are often confused as moths because they are not usually brightly colored. They are more similar to butterflies - being day fliers and holding their wings up at rest. But they are often teeny tiny, almost unnoticeable. Their antennea are often think stalks that curl into a little j at the top.

The last major difference between a moth and a butterfly is in the metamorphosis of these animals. Butterflies molt into a chrysalis that hangs from a structure. The chrysalis is actually still the butterfly - not a separate covering - though the butterfly does detach from it, it cracks open like the skin of a cicada and out crawls the transformed creature.

Moths, on the other hand, use their spinnerets to spin a web of silk around themselves, forming a cocoon - sometimes rolling into a leaf or some other protective thing. These cocoons don't hang, but stick to wherever they were made.

And now you know!

Answer 2

the superb fail-secure thank you to tell the version is interior the antennae. All butterflies have what are consumer-friendly as clubbed antennae, they appear like a shaft with a ball on the top, or form of like a golfing club. Moths have many forms of antennae, yet not at all the clubbed variety. the fact that moths come out at night and butterflies throughout the time of the day isn't a competent thank you to tell by way of fact there are constantly exceptions. enormously with moths, the place nearly all of species are energetic throughout the time of the day rather of at night by way of fact the consumer-friendly false impression states. There are additionally nocturnal species of butterflies as nicely. So whilst unsure look at their antennae. good question, i'm hoping that helped!

Answer 3

There is one way to tell the difference by looking. A butterfly will rest with its wings together and a moth will rest with its wings apart! That's all I know about that!

Answer 4

They are a different species.
Moths come from larvae which come from eggs the moth deposits in a sutiable place.
Butterfly's emerge from a cocoon spun by a caterpillar.