Zoom Butterfly Butterfly Glossary

WARM BLOODED Warm blooded (or endothermic) animals generate their own body heat to maintain their body temperature. Birds and mammals are endothermic.

WARNING COLORATION Warning coloration (or aposematic coloration) is the bright, attention-getting coloration that protects an organism from experienced predators (i.e., predators who have previously eaten a similar-looking animal and have gotten sick from it). Both poisonous organisms (like the Monarch butterfly) and its mimics (poisonous or not) are said to have aposematic coloration.

WESTERN PYGMY BLUE The Western Pygmy Blue, Brephidium exilis, is the smallest butterfly in the United States. The adult is about 3/8 inch wide. The eggs are blue-green; the caterpillar is light green and eats pickleweed, saltbush, and pigweed. Family Lycaenidae.

WINGS Butterflies and moths have four wings. The wings are made of two chitonous layers (membranes) that are nourished and supported by tubular veins.

WINGSPAN Wingspan is the distance measured across a butterfly's (or moth's) wings.

WOOD NYMPH BUTTERFLY The wood nymph butterfly, also called the rice paper butterfly, paper kite butterfly, or tree nymph (Idea leuconoe) is a distinctive black and white butterfly. The wingspan is 95 to 110 cm across. The chrysalis is yellow with black markings. It is from Southeast Asia. Classification: superfamily Papilionigiae, family Nymphalidae, subfamily Danainae, Genus Idea, Species I. Leuconoe.

WOOLLY BEAR The woolly bear caterpillar is the hairy caterpillar of any of the tiger moths (family Arctiidae).

Zoom Butterfly Butterfly Glossary

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