Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran suborder Rhopalocera, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the superfamilies Hedyloidea and Papilionoidea. The oldest butterfly fossils have been dated to the Paleocene, about 56 million years ago, though they likely originated in the Late Cretaceous, about 101 million years ago.
Butterfly
Possibly the original butter-fly. A male brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) in flight.
A zoomed in view of the wing scales on a Aglais io, or peacock butterfly.
Unlike butterflies, most moths (like Laothoe populi) fly by night and hide by day.
The Pterygota are a subclass of insects that includes all winged insects and the orders that are secondarily wingless.
Pterygota