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There are really
two groups of animals

that grab
people's attention.

And I think these two groups
get people's attention

because they're brightly colored
and they're very active.

They have wings, so they fly by:
the birds and the butterflies.

And we want to zero in
on butterflies right now

and talk about them
a little bit,

especially butterflies
that are common

within the boundaries
of the United States.

I guess one way
to approach it is to put them

in the right
classification scheme.

They belong
to the animal kingdom.

The next level down
in classification

is called
a phylum.

And the phylum
that they belong to

is a group
called the arthropods.

If you break that word down,
arthro, joint, pod, leg,

the joint-legged
animals.

these are animals
with an exoskeleton,

a hard, shell-like covering
on the outside,

and jointed legs.

And there are
quite a few species

that belong to this group,
arthropods:

the spiders, the crabs,

and also the group
that the butterflies belong to,

and that's the class
that they belong to,

the insects,
the Insecta.

Used to be called
the hexapods

because most insects have
six legs,

but now we call them
insects.

Typical, three body parts
in insects:

a head, a thorax,
and an abdomen.

On the head, you would always
have a pair of antennae,

a couple
of compound eyes.

On the thorax,
you have usually six legs,

but there are a number
of species of butterflies

with only four legs,
not six.

And then usually, of course,
four wings is typical

of butterflies
and most of the other insects,

and then the large abdomen
on the end.

Then insects
can be broken down

into the next level,
called orders,

and the order
that butterflies belong to

is the order
Lepidoptera,

Lepidos means "“scale."”

P-T-E-R-A means "“wing."”

The scale-winged insects,
butterflies and moths.

Really, moths are
more abundant than butterflies,

but we're gonna be looking
specifically

at butterflies
right now.

So let's get
started.

Big butterflies
usually catch your eyes first.

The swallowtails are
the real common butterflies

that get fairly large
and sometimes puddle together.

This is
the pipevine swallowtail,

puddling, coming together
to get a little moisture.

You can see
the tongue coming out,

slurping up
a little moisture,

and all that purple on the back
of the hind wing and forewing.

The swallowlike tails
give it the name.

This is the caterpillar
of the pipevine swallowtail,

pretty incredible-looking
animal,

feeding on--snakeroot
is one of the common names

for the larval food plant,
or birthwort.

Aristolochia
is the genus name.

Changing plant
into animal.

Isn't that incredible,
watching it chew

right along the edge
of the leaf?

Pipevine swallowtails
are pretty common

around the eastern half
of the United States,

but caterpillars,
it's amazing,

the larval stage in the
life cycle of that butterfly.

And this is the underside
of the wing

of the pipevine
swallowtail.

Again,
more purple there,

and little portholes of yellow
on the side of the abdomen.

Legs out there,
six legs,

like insects would be
expected to have.

Here's a spicebush
swallowtail among them.

You see a little light blue
on the top of the hind wing,

swallowlike tails and
the same markings on the side,

but very, very different
on the top and bottom.

Again, swallowtails
get the name

from those swallowlike
tails sticking off.

And there's the pair of antennae
with the bulges on the end.

Another swallowtail
is really pretty widespread,

the eastern
tiger swallowtail.

The males are bright yellow
with black stripes.

Females usually are
a lot darker than that.

Again, here's one
puddling at a puddle,

standing water,
wet ground,

slurping up a little moisture
and maybe some minerals too.

Larval food plant for this
is tuliptrees.

It's the state butterfly
of South Carolina

and the state
of Georgia.

But pretty obvious.

Look at the back wings
on this one.

Something has torn
those wings.

Maybe it flew into something,
or a bird took a bite out of it.

That happens a lot
to butterflies.

Then the zebra swallowtail

with zebra striping
on the wings, the long tails,

sometimes called
a kite swallowtail

because it almost looks
like tails on a kite

sticking
off the back.

And you can see
individual scales on the wing,

which are
pretty exciting,

and a little bit of red
on the top.

There would be a red stripe
on the underside of the wing.

But look
at the fuzzy scales too.

They look almost like hairs
on the front part of the body.

There are the pair of antennae
with the bulge on the end

and those compound eyes
that you would expect to see.

Zebra swallowtails love
to live in low, wet places

where the larval food plant
grows.

And there it is,
pawpaw.

There is the caterpillar of
the zebra swallowtail butterfly,

with zebra striping on it, too,
on the larval food plant.

If you want
to protect butterflies,

you protect
the larval food plants.

Greater variety
of larval food plants,

you would have a greater variety
of butterflies coming there.

I just love the markings
on that particular animal.

Then the great
southern white.

There are many whites,
or sulphur butterflies.

This one has a little blue
on the tip of the antenna.

And this is one that's really
in the lower Southeast,

and it comes up
a little farther

if the season is
a little extra warm.

These are Spanish needles,
the flowers they're going to.

That's a cluster
of flowers,

so the tongue goes
into each flower,

one at a time.

And nectar, of course,
is energy that keeps '‘em flying.

And that energy
originates in the sun,

trapped by the plant,

gets into the body
of the butterfly.

The biggest yellow butterfly
in the United States,

the cloudless sulphur.

Long tongue
going into those flowers,

and, again,
six legs on it.

A little bit of darker markings,
but mainly all yellow.

Cloudless sulphur.

It doesn't have a lot
of dark markings

on the edge
of the wing.

And you can see that tongue
is long enough

to go down
into deep-throated flowers.

This one's easy to see
because it's very, very active.

Sometimes in the Southeast,
the population really explodes,

and it begins to migrate,
oftentimes heading north.

Look at that tongue,

going way down the long throat
of that tubular flower,

getting nectar,
and nectar is sugar.

Some butterflies
are big and obvious.

Some are small, and this one,
if it hadn't moved,

I don't think
we would have seen it.

Out west, one of the blues,
the acmon blue butterfly.

Look at the red on the underside
and that silver, oh boy.

The black and the silver,
incredible,

and the markings on the antennae
are typical of the blues.

Most of the blues
are actually blue in color,

but sometimes
they are not.

But you see
the small size.

They often position themselves,
open up the wings,

get a little more energy
from the sun to warm them up.

Look at the markings
on the top of those hind wings

and that little bit of blue
reflection on it too.

Tiny, little butterfly, probably
as big as your thumbnail.

Of course, butterflies
don't grow any bigger.

When you see
an insect with wings,

you're looking at an adult
insect almost all the time.

This is the smallest butterfly,
the pygmy blue butterfly.

It doesn't have
a whole lot of blue.

It's more brown.

Antennae look
about the same.

Wind's blowing it
a little,

but this is one
that loves salty situations

along the coast in the east
and in the west,

and this is the western species
in the salt flats out west.

And that butterfly
is hard to believe,

the small size of it,

until you put something in there
that you're familiar with

to kind of give you a feeling
for how small it is.

And this is
on one of those salt bushes,

and that's my index finger
going in.

Look at that
tiny, little butterfly.

Of course, these butterflies,
all of them we've looked at,

as a general rule live
about two weeks as an adult.

There are exceptions
to the rule,

but the rule is
a very short adult lifespan.

One of the rarest blues,
the Karner blue butterfly.

We saw this one
in Wisconsin.

Oh, look at the blue
on the back.

Look at the markings
on the top of the hind wing.

These are
incredibly beautiful animals,

and this one lays eggs
on lupines.

Looks like a female with
a large abdomen full of eggs

that she would deposit
one at a time on lupine leaves.

Again, the connection
with the larval food plant.

This is one of those endangered
species in the United States.

What a beautiful animal,
and just a small one.

And the American copper,

called that because of those
coppery markings on the wings.

Gray otherwise, and then
all of that bright color.

The coppers are widespread
in the United States.

Not as diverse as the blues,
but they're related to them,

and the antennae
look a little bit alike.

There again, compound eyes,
a pair of antennae,

head, thorax, abdomen, like
you would expect on an insect.

When you've got lots of flowers,
you expect lots of butterflies,

and these are
gulf fritillaries.

Boy, I love the orange color
on the back,

a little silver spotting
on the top of the wing,

but there are
only four legs.

There are quite a few
of our butterflies

that only have
four legs.

The front pair
are vestigial.

They're insects, but they only
have four legs that function.

There's that long tongue
coming out.

Oh, this is a good view
of the tongue

going into that
deep tubular flower,

and look at the colors
on that animal.

Not a scale missing,
so you would expect this animal

would have emerged
from a chrysalis recently.

It hadn't been flying
for a long, long time.

But there it is,
doing its work.

A little bit of white edging
on the wing is nice too,

and the silver spots
on the underside of the wings,

one of the most beautiful
butterflies that we've got.

Variegated fritillary, doesn't
have quite all the silver on it,

but that's that brown
and yellow-orange look.

You can see the antennae
sticking up, usually autumn.

This is probably an autumn field
where this one was flying.

But variegated fritillary
is the common name for it.

Lays eggs on quite a variety
of plants.

Sitting on a little flower
called blue vervain.

Lots of flowers there,
lots of nectar.

And here's one of the bigger
butterflies called a fritillary,

the great spangled fritillary.

There's that proboscis.

Look at the color
in those compound eyes

and the fuzz
on the back.

That's an amazing animal,

and, again,
count the number of legs.

There are
only four here.

Quite a few
of our butterflies

really only have
four functional legs.

But look at the markings
on the back of that.

Sitting on butterfly weed,
which is one of the milkweeds.

Boy, that's attractive
to butterflies,

so the common name
makes pretty good sense.

Up close and personal
looks like this,

the fuzz on those
little palps out front

and then those interesting
reflections in the compound eye.

Oh, boy,
nectar must taste really good.

And that's energy
that, again, the plant produces.

It draws insects,

and they oftentimes carry away
pollen or pollen sacs.

Pearl crescent butterflies,
pretty abundant,

sharing this group of flowers
with a little weevil.

Pearl crescent butterflies,
really common,

widespread all over
the United States.

Great number
of varieties.

They're feeding there, and
this looks like a mating pair

that actually are still sticking
together, clinging together.

Usually, the female
is larger than the male.

And even in the breeze,
holding on

and bouncing around
just a little bit.

Markings
on the antennae too,

very much like the blues that
we saw earlier, or the coppers.

And then this one is called
a Texan crescentspot,

and the eastern version of this,
the Seminole crescent.

Not common in the Southeast,
but scattered,

just junk populations
of them.

I love the bright white
on the back of the wings.

That white band is typical
of the species.

♪

thththththththththththththththt,

that Lepidoptera, that order,

is one of the four
most common groups of insects,

one of the four
most common orders of insects,

and I think
I know why.

All four
of the top groups of insects

carry on something called
complete metamorphosis.

You lay an egg,
which develops into a larva,

which forms a pupa,
which becomes an adult.

There are four stages
of development,

and those stages
are very different.

The egg is laid
on the larval food plant.

That's one of those connections
that's interesting.

If you like a diversity
of butterflies,

you want a diversity
of larval food plants.

The female lays an egg
on the proper plant.

That develops
into a larva,

which in butterflies
we call a caterpillar.

They eat
certain species.

Some of them are picky;
others are not.

Finally, they form a pupa,
a resting stage,

which in a butterfly
you would call a chrysalis.

And then big changes occur
in that phase,

and then the adult butterfly
comes out of that.

Caterpillar feeds
on leaves.

The adult butterfly
is a nectar feeder
for the most part.

Mouthparts change;
it gets wings.

It gets those antennae
that we talked about.

The change that occurs
in the chrysalis

is really
pretty incredible.

It's like
the rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick

raised
to the nth degree.

And then, of course,
the adult butterfly

is what we want
to get back into right now.

Again, a butterfly getting
a little bit of moisture.

This one has
a little, silvery comma shape

and then a space
and a little dot

on the underside
of the hind wing.

Question mark butterfly
is the common name for it.

Only four legs,
as you see.

This is one of those butterflies
that overwinters as an adult

and are sometimes called
anglewing butterflies.

Another close relative of that
one is the mourning cloak.

A cloak of mourning
was worn in Europe,

dark coat
with a little yellow edging,

and that's the reason
for the name of this animal.

In Europe, this is called
the Camberwell beauty,

but we call it
the mourning cloak butterfly.

It overwinters
as an adult, too,

and comes out and feeds on sap
that oozes out of trees.

I think that's
what's going on here.

The head is down
in this one.

See the markings
on the back.

Look at the purple
on the back,

that brown, my goodness,
and that yellow edging.

Picking up
moisture out of mud.

Right along
the Congaree River

is where we were
when this picture was taken.

But isn't that
interesting?

These adult butterflies
are fluid feeders for sure.

And the red admiral
butterfly.

That red band on the wings,
pretty typical.

Again, four legs.

Tongue out, so it must be
getting moisture or liquid

from something
on the side.

And another one that looks
a little like that red admiral--

matter of fact,
this is the red admiral still.

It's got that red band
across the top.

And now you can see the red
on the top of the hind wing.

It really is easily confused
at this angle

with a couple
of other butterflies

called
the painted ladies.

But that's the red admiral,
and it looks very fresh.

Now, speaking
of painted lady butterflies,

this is one of those butterflies
that's kind of interesting

because of the color
on the back,

the color on the underside
of the front wing,

and a pair
of false eyespots.

On the underside
of the hind wing,

there are eyespots that draw
the predators' attention

away from the body
to the back.

The American lady
is what it's called.

Used to be called
the American painted lady.

See those two eyespots on
the underside of the hind wing

and that rouge-red color on
the underside of the forewing,

which always gives
the name painted lady to it,

but now known
as the American lady.

There's another one
up close and personal.

You see the pink
on the forewing

and those big eyespots on
the underside of the hind wing.

And nectar,
nectar, nectar.

The one on top
hasn't been flying

as long as
the one on bottom.

This one has
a number of eyespots,

not just two big ones,
but four or five.

And this is
the painted lady butterfly,

and this species
is in North America

and also in Europe

and does a little bit
of migrating sometimes.

The buckeye butterfly,
oh boy, that's beautiful.

Common buckeye butterfly,
pretty incredible animal,

and pieces of the tail wings,
hind wings missing,

V-shaped, as if the bird grabbed
it when the wings were together,

going for what the bird thought
was the head where the eyes are,

and tearing the wings up,
and the animal is still flying.

This one is common
in the eastern United States,

and has a number of broods
every year.

Again, the adults live
about two weeks.

Here's one that's
not so damaged, one very fresh.

Oh, my goodness,
the colors!

Buckeye,
common buckeye butterfly.

Look how big
those eyespots are

on the back
of the butterfly,

and little, orange bands
on the front wings too.

Widespread, and like I said,
lots of broods.

They're flying every warm month
in the United States,

and in Florida,
that would be a good part.

That was
the adult.

This is the larva or caterpillar
of the buckeye butterfly.

Little spiny things on it,
looks like it might sting,

but this is not one
that causes problems.

Whenever you see caterpillars
with bristles, though,

better to be safe
than sorry.

But this is the caterpillar
of that buckeye butterfly.

It's amazing the changes
that occur in the pupal stage.

But that's an interesting animal
and very common.

If you look carefully,

you'll find these on a variety
of larval food plants.

The goatweed butterfly,
or goatweed leafwing it's called

because when the wings
are held together,

it looks like a leaf.

One part of the wing
is torn in the back,

and see the brown markings
on the top of the wing.

This is one that,
when it's still,

looks like a leaf
on a branch.

And, again, just four legs,
as you can see there.

Look at the antennae
aiming up like a little leaf.

All sorts of insects,
a little beetle next to it.

There was
a fly there.

All three of those
are insects.

And they're representing

three of the most common
orders of insects.

But the goatweed leafwing,
I think appropriately named.

It looks
like a leaf.

Hackberry emperor butterfly,
tongue out here, on a yucca.

Yuccas have
very slippery flowers,

and I think this butterfly's
gonna do a little bit

of slippin' and slidin' here
in a minute.

But lays eggs
on hackberry plants,

so the common name,
hackberry butterfly.

Another
close-up look at it,

with the dark eyespot on
the underside of the front wing.

There's the tongue down, white
on the tips of the antennae,

getting
a little bit of fluid.

It looks almost
like bird droppings,

that white
on the wood,

and I bet it's getting
a few minerals from that also.

Looks fresh, though.

That one hasn't been flying
for very long.

Again, laying eggs
on hackberry trees.

Of course, the butterfly
that's so big, well known,

the monarch butterfly
that the last brood migrates

in the eastern half
of the United States to Mexico.

An amazing animal, very sturdily
built, goes a good distance.

You see just four legs
instead of six,

but there are the pair
of antennae that are down,

and that proboscis
coming out.

Amazing the way
they fly.

How do they know where
those two ridges are in Mexico?

We really
aren't sure.

There are great mysteries
in this world.

But tanking up on nectar,
getting the energy

so that it
can fly away.

The orange, black, and white,
pretty easily identified.

This was in the
western United States.

That's little
prairie coneflower there

with the yellow flowers
hanging down.

Oh, I love that,
with the wings spread,

and off he goes.

This one is
the eyed brown butterfly.

There are a number
of small brown butterflies

with false eyespots
on the wings.

This one's pretty widespread,
but a rather delicate animal.

Loves floodplain forests

and sits perched
in this position,

giving us
a close look at it.

A relative,
the pearly eye butterflies,

lay eggs on the plant this
one's sitting on, switch cane.

This is
a Creole pearly eye butterfly.

Pearly white
with those eyespots,

so pearly eye butterfly
makes pretty good sense,

and typical
of floodplains

because that's where
the larval food plant is.

Silver-spotted skipper,
one of the larger skippers.

Look at the antennae!

They've got a bulge on the end
and a little hook.

That's typical
of the skippers.

This one has six legs, like you
would expect an insect to have.

Silver spot on the underside of
the hind wing, pretty obvious.

This is another skipper;
look at the antennae.

Long tails, so long-tailed
skipper is a good common name.

Love those long tails,
and a little green on the back,

and the markings
on the undersides of the wings.

But the tongue
is active.

These animals love flowers
with clusters of flowers,

and that's
what it's sitting on,

going from one group of flowers
to another.

This is another view
of the long-tailed skipper.

You can see
that greenish color.

Look at the way
he rolls the proboscis up!

That's kind of neat,
isn't it?

Rolls up for easier flying,
and then you can unroll it,

stick it down the throat
of a flower, get some nectar,

carry off a little pollen,
and fertilize other plants.

Those connections
are amazing.

The funereal
or duskywing skipper

is really common
in the springtime.

Dark in color, which I guess
gives it the common name.

Lays eggs on new growth
on oak trees, for the most part.

This one isn't the most showy
of the butterflies,

but it'll get
your attention too.

♪

Now, what about books
that are useful

as far as
indentifying butterflies?

One of the nice ones
and a good one to start with,

"“Butterflies and Moths:
a Golden Guide."”

St. Martin's Press
publishes these.

Loaded with good information
on butterflies and moths.

Nice pictures inside;
range maps are good.

It shows you
the caterpillar,

talks about
the larval food plant,

as well as
showing you the adult.

That's nice, and then
the next level would be

"“Butterflies of North America,"”
the Kaufman Focus Guides.

I think it's
very, very nice.

Photographs inside there
are exquisite,

and range maps
are up to date.

Scientific names
are up to date.

So that helps you answer,
"“What is that butterfly?"”

To get close to butterflies,
there are two ways.

One without hurting them at all
is using binoculars.

There are books
with a title

like "“Butterflies
through Binoculars."”

When you're looking
at binoculars,

notice the amount
of magnification.

That's that first number
on the left.

This is 8x30.

Eight power magnification
is a good bit.

I'd have to stand a good ways
away to view the butterfly.

Seven would be
better than eight.

That means you can see '‘em
when you're closer to them

without having
to back up.

The other way to get close
is to use insect nets.

Biological supply houses
have these.

I usually get mine from
Ward's Biological Supplies

in Rochester, New York.

Then with a magnifying glass,
8 to 10 power,

that's a nice way to see
how many legs they've got

and get a close look at
the compound eyes and the rest.

My final word
is gonna be about conservation.

You don't want to have
negative effect on this world.

You want to look
at butterflies,

but you don't want to damage
the populations.

Care for special habitats,

open fields like this
with woods close by.

If you capture
butterflies,

unless you've got a really
strong reason to collect '‘em,

let '‘em go,
release them,

and get a chance
to see '‘em again later.

These are
special organisms.

Let's take special care
of them.

♪

♪