Almost all butterflies have knobs at the end of their antennae, and when perched they usually hold their wings upright over their backs. Compared to moths, butterflies tend to have relatively slender bodies, and colorful wings. Most butterflies are active during the day and prefer sunny open habitats. Butterfly caterpillars form a chrysalis before becoming an adult. It is estimated that there are 18,500 known species world wide.

Did You Know this about butterflies?

• Caterpillars shed their skin before hardening into a chrysalis.
• Once a chrysalis is formed, the caterpillar turns into a mushy soup.
• Complete metamorphosis into a butterfly takes 10 to 14 days.
• Butterflies can fly with torn wings.
• Thousands of tiny scales cover butterfly wings, not powder.
• Butterflies see ultra violet light.
• Butterflies migrate to new territories and will even fly across oceans to find a new place to live.
• Male butterflies are territorial and will protect their area.
• Most butterflies are very hairy.
• Butterflies have clubs at the end of their antennae.
  

Moths often have feather like antennae or an antenna with no club at the end. When perched, their wings lay flat. Moths tend to have thick hairy bodies and more earth tone colored wings. Moths are usually active at night and rest during the day in a preferred wooded habitat. Moth caterpillars spin a silk cocoon before changing into a moth. Scientists have identified some 200,000 species of moths world wide and suspect there may be as many as five times that amount.

Did You Know this about Moths?

• Moth caterpillars spin a silk cocoon.
• Once a cocoon is spun, the caterpillar turns into a mushy soup during metamorphosis.
• Moths navigate (find their way in the dark) by the stars in the sky.
• Many moths are day fliers and will mimic bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
• Thousands of tiny scales and hairs cover moth’s wings, not powder.
• Moths can see ultra violet light.
• A Cecropia moth has the ability to smell his mate up to 7 miles away with his feathery antennae.
• Some species of moths don’t have mouth parts for eating when an adult

Scientific Classification
Kingdon: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera

Hymenoptera means 'membrane wing.' There are 280,000 kinds of humenopterans. All hymenopterans have two pairs of membrane wings and also chewing mouthparts.

They have four stages in their metamorphosis: egg, larva, pupa and adult.

Only females have stingers. Bees only put their stinger out when they are geting ready to sting.

Bees, wasps and ants are social insects. They live together in large groups called colonies. Different insects in the colony have different jobs. The queen's job is to lay eggs. The drones are the males and their job is to mate with the queen. The workers are all the females except for the queen and they do lots of jobs like collecting nectar and pollen, make honey, take the eggs to nurseries, and clean up.

Homes
Bees, wasps and ants each have different kinds of homes. Bees live in beehives made of wax. Wasps live in paper nests made of their saliva and wood particles. Most ants live in ant hills in the ground. An anthill can absorb heat and get ten degrees warmer than nearby ground.

How they affect people
Bees can sting people. People use honey. honey is from flower nectar. Bees also pollinate flowers of lots of kinds of plants and this helps people grow food.

Wasps sting people. They eat insects that are harmful to crops.

Ants take food from people's picnics. They are pests that get in our houses sometimes. They help people by mixing up the soil and eating lots of insects.