Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player
 

  • Nederlands
  • Deutsch
Search in the Encyclopedia

Dieren en planten

Winged insects   Butterflies and moths   Butterflies   Moths   
Small pearl-bordered fritillary, Foto Fitis, www.fotofitis.nl

Butterflies

The butterfly family makes up a large group within the insects. They are easy to recognize by their lovely, scaled wings and rolling tongue, which they use to suck nectar out of flowers. Odors play an important role in their life. Butterflies undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through all the stages from egg, caterpillar, pupa to adult butterfly. As caterpillar, they eat plants. The butterfly family is divided into butterflies and moths. Some moth species fly during the day. Natural enemies of butterflies are dragonflies, ichneumon wasps, parasite flies, bats, birds and spiders.

  • Hundreds of species

    In the Netherlands there are around 100 species of butterflies and 800 species of moths. 

    Examples of butterflies:Examples of moths:

    grizzled skipper
    small copper
    silver-studded blue
    brown argus
    green hairstreak
    fritillary
    grayling

    		 small ermine
    privet hawkmoth
    eyed hawkmoth
    elephant hawk-moth
    brown-tailed moth
    cinnabar moth
  • Butterfly-friendlier dune management

    Butterflies are found a lot in areas where lots of different species of plants grow. That is why you see them in dunes as well as open sand grounds, grasslands, heath lands, bushes and forests. The alteration between dry and damp and nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor places is favorable for butterflies.

    Grazing by cattle or horses is one way to provide variation in the dunes. Some areas are grazed short while others are left to grow tall. Some places are trampled open or are fertilized with their manure. It is important that the number of animals is limited, otherwise they will eat too many flowers.

    Mowing is another management measures. You mustn't mow away all plants otherwise you remove all the caterpillars and pupa as well. You should always leave some plants standing. This is referred to as variable mowing.

  • Butterfly migration
    Hummingbird hawk-moth, Sytske Dijksen, www.fotofitis.nl

    Some butterflies live through the winter as egg, while others are caterpillars, pupa or butterfly. For those that live as butterfly, some go into hibernation. However, the Dutch winters are too cold for a those species that stay as 'lively butterfly'. They migrate to the south. Those species that find the Netherlands too warm in the summer migrate north.

    The best known migrating butterflies are the red admiral and the painted lady. The hummingbird hawk-moth pictured above also migrates. They often fly along the coast. The Pieridae family (such as the large white found on garden plants and cabbage) can display migration behavior.

  • Did you know that...

    ... butterflies prefer herbal plants for lying their eggs, while moths prefer trees or shrubs.