TAXONOMY OF MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES

The Lepidoptera is the second largest order of insects. The Lepidopterans are minute to very large soft bodied insects. The scales are modified, flattened "hairs", and give butterflies and moths their extraordinary variety of colors and patterns. The larva are phytophagus or predaceous and the adults are phytophagous. Most of the lepidopterns are terrestrial. But certain members of several families have been found in aquatic environments as larvae and sometimes as adults.