Because of the number of questions asked of us, and our small volunteer staff, we cannot respond individually to your queries, but if a number of people pose the same question, we will post the answer on this page. Butterflies and moths are evolutionarily related group of insects, called lepidoptera, that share many characteristics, including having wings covered with scales. There are many families of moths and butterflies within the lepidoptera.
Many butterflies are very colorful and almost all butterflies are active exclusively during the day.
In contrast, most moths are fairly drably colored and are active at night. But there are quite a few butterflies that are dull and quite a few moths that are brilliantly colored and fly during the daytime. A better way to distinguish moths and butterflies is to look at their antennas. The vast majority of moths have antennas that are either simple filaments, tapering to a point at their ends, or are very complicated structures with many cross filaments, looking somewhat like radar antennas. There are approximately 20,000 species of butterflies in the world.