Butterflies from Around the World Quiz

Answer: Owl

When you look at the two large eyespots together, it really does resemble an owl's eyes. Owl butterflies are native from Mexico to South America and are particularly fond of bananas, so much so that they are considered a pest on plantations. They are large butterflies, with an average wingspan of five or seven inches.

Their genus name, Caligo, comes from the Latin word for darkness or dimness and reflects the time of day (dusk) when the owl butterfly is most active.

Answer: Sara longwing

The range of the Sara longwing (Heliconius sara) extends from Mexico to South America, and while they feed on the nectar and pollen of various flowers, they lay their eggs on passion flower vines. The chemicals from the passion vines are retained in the adults and serve as protection against predators who dislike the taste, apparently.

The vibrant blue coloring of the Sara longwing is similar to that of Wallace's longwing, although the latter has more rounded bands on its wings, and its range doesn't extend as far north as the Sara longwing.

Answer: Zebra longwing

The zebra longwing has a similar range to that of the Sara longwing, but the zebra longwing extends into the lower U.S., including Florida, where it was declared the official state butterfly in 1996. It shares the eating and egg-laying preferences with other longwings, such as the Sara longwing, and as with other varieties of longwings, zebra longwings practice communal roosting, where a large number of butterflies congregate at the same roosting location each night.

Answer: Great southern white

The great southern white (Ascia monuste) is found throughout the southern part of North America and down into South America, but stragglers have been found as far north as Canada. They are considered a pest species for the Brassicaceae plants (the mustard and cabbage family) because they lay their eggs there and the resultant caterpillars feed on the plants.

The easiest way to identify the great southern white is by the turquoise tips of its antennae.

Answer: Buckeye

Also known as the common buckeye, the buckeye butterfly can be identified by the two orange bars at the top of each of its forewings and the orange band along the bottom of its hindwings. Although mainly associated with the southern U.S. and Mexico, buckeyes have been found as far north as Canada.

The ancestors of the buckeye are believed to have originally migrated from Africa so there are several similar varieties in the Junonia genus around the world.

Answer: Pipevine Swallowtail

Also known as the blue swallowtail, the pipevine swallowtail is found throughout much of the U.S. and northern Mexico with occasional sightings in Canada. The butterfly gets its blue swallowtail nickname from its hindwings, which are vibrant blue for the males and slightly duller blue for the females.

The caterpillars of the pipevine swallowtail feed on Aristolochia plants, such as the pipevine and the Dutchman's pipe, and they absorb the toxins from the plants as a defense mechanism against predators.

However, the plant varieties need to be native to the area in which they're planted or they may be toxic to the caterpillars.

Answer: Eighty-eights

The patterns on their hindwing undersides resemble the numbers 88 (although the design on some specimens can appear as 89 or 98), and most of the species have the numbers included in their name, such as the eluina eighty-eight butterfly pictured here.

When the wings are open, the dorsal colors are black with diagonal bands that are usually a metallic blue or green. The butterflies are particularly fond of rotten fruit, and oddly enough, urine-soaked ground.

Answer: Scarlet Mormon

According to Harish Gaonkar, of the Natural History Museum in London: "The naming of Mormons evolved slowly. I think the first to get such a name was the Common Mormon (Papilio polytes), because it had three different females, a fact that could only have been observed in the field, and this they did in India.

The name obviously reflected the ... Mormon sect in America, which as we know, practiced polygamy." A member of the swallowtail family, Scarlet Mormons are sexually dimorphic with each sex having different markings and the females being noticeably larger.

They have wingspans that range from four to six inches, and they are mainly found in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Taiwan.

Answer: Paper kite or rice paper

The paper kite, or rice paper, butterfly is also known as the large tree nymph butterfly. Although native to Southeast Asia, it is a popular denizen in butterfly exhibits around the world thanks to their striking black on white markings and their slow, graceful fluttering.

The paper kite caterpillars feed on toxic plants in the dogbane and milkweed families, and the toxicity is retained by the adult butterflies, which serves as a defense mechanism against predators.

Answer: Painted lady

The painted lady is also known as the cosmopolitan butterfly due to its wide distribution (all continents except Antarctica). It is in the same family as the monarch butterfly and, like the monarch, it migrates to warmer locations when temperatures get too chilly.

The average life cycle is twelve months but only a month or less of that is spent as a butterfly, so while a butterfly may start the migration, it is its offspring that make the return trip. The 'artist' clue refers to 'painted'.