A club is the thickened end of a butterfly's antenna . The proboscis uncoils to sip food, and coils up again into a spiral when not in use. The lepidopteran with the longest proboscis is the hawk moth. Palps are the mustache-like scaly mouthparts of adult butterflies that are on each side of the proboscis . These palps are covered with sensory hairs and scales, and test whether something is food or not.
Butterflies have six segmented legs.
The two front legs of about half the butterfly species are very short. The front pair of legs are frequently used to clean the antennae. Each foot ends in a pair of grasping claws. The feet are also studded with sense organs and are used to taste food. The life span of butterflies varies widely from species to species.