Nymphalis antiopa, known as the mourning cloak in North America and the Camberwell beauty in Britain, is a large butterfly native to Eurasia and North America.
Image: The Mourning Cloak (23369139485)
Image: Nymphalis Antiopa side view
Illustration from The Papilios of Great Britain
Caterpillar of Nymphalis antiopa
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.