General Terms for Lepidopterists

 
 
 
Albinic:  Having an abundance of pale pigments; appearing pale.  In several species of sulfur butterflies (family Pieridae) for instance, males are yellow or orange, while the females are albinic (white) in color.  In other species, albinism could be an aberrant condition.  Contrast with melanic.
 
Aposematic: Refers to the ability to warn away potential predators by the use of advertising colors and (sometimes) behaviors. An example of aposematic coloration among the Lepidoptera is the vivid patterns (such as alternating yellow and black stripes) found on the wings of a number of butterflies in the genus Heliconius. An example of aposematic behavior is the gregarious clustering of the aposematically colored caterpillars of certain Morpho butterfly species. Apparently, potential predators are better instructed to avoid a group of brightly colored caterpillars than if they encounter them in isolated situations.
 
Arthropod:  A large phylum of organisms, with the following characteristics:  an exoskelton (of some type and typically hardened to an extent), external evidence of the body being segmented (somewhat similar units along the body axis, all in a row), legs that are jointed, and a nervous system that runs along the body axis on the ventral side of the body.  This pylum includes the class of insects (which, of course, includes butterflies and moths), as well as other classes such as centipedes, millipedes, crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, crayfish pillbugs), arachnids (spiders, ticks, chiggers, mites, scorpions, etc.), and some other groups.
 
Batesian mimicry: The variety of cross-species imitation in which an otherwise defenseless species gains protection from predators by closely resembling a species whose members have an effective defensive mechanism such as stinging or bad taste. A lepidopteran example: the moth Hemaris diffinis closely resembles bumblebees, even in its hovering behavior over flowers. Compare with Mullerian mimicry. 
 
Dimorphism: Existing in two distinctly body shapes or wing colors. The most typical dimorphism is that of sexual dimorphism, in which the male and female are distinctly different. For instance, the butterfly Speyeria diana exists as a male with orange-brown wings and a female with blue-purple wings. Another example: in the moth species Alsophila pometaria the female’s wings are so tiny that they are nonfunctional.
 
Frass: The excrement produced by a larva.  Typically a semi-dry pellet.
 
Gynandromorph: An animal that has male characteristics in one part of the body and female characteristics in another part. If it happens in a sexually dimorphic butterfly or moth species, the result can be visually spectacular. For example the left pair of wings might be have different colors and patterns than the right pair of wings.
 
Hilltopping: An aspect of territoriality and mating in males of some butterfly species, in which a male perches on a hilltop, defends the territory around the hill against other males, and seeks to mate with any female that approaches the hilltop. See also: perching, on this page.
 
Host plant: A plant species known to be preferred by the larval stage of a particular lepidopteran species.
 
Insect: Any member of Class Insecta. This class of organisms has the following characteristics: external evidence of the body being segmented (somewhat similar units along the body axis, all in a row), legs that are jointed, a nervous system that runs along the body axis on the ventral side of the body, three pairs of legs, often possessing wings, body segments divided into three groups (head, thorax, and abdomen). Among these features, the first three define all arthropods and the remaining further define those arthropods that are insects.
 
Melanic: Having an unusual abundance of the brown/black pigment melanin. Occasionally in butterfly or moth populations an individual will have mutant genetic instructions that cause over-production of melanin and therefore a body and wings that are either totally dark or significantly darker than normal. Such aberrant specimens are said to be melanic.   Compare with albinic.
 
Mimicry: One species imitating another species in color, shape, behavior, etc. Many examples occur among the Lepidoptera; e.g., moth species that look much like stinging insects such as bees and wasps. See Batesian mimcry and  Mullerian mimicry as two major categories of mimicry.
 
Monophagous: If a caterpillar is known to eat only upon a single plant species (its hostplant), then the caterpillar is said to be monophagous. Contrast this with oligophagous and polyphagous.
 
Mullerian mimicry: The variety of cross-species imitation in which two or more species whose members have an effective defense mechanism such as stinging or bad taste reinforce each others’ “leave-me-alone” message by having similar warning signals . Such a signal could, for instance, be a bright coloration pattern of alternating orange and black. (See aposematic). A lepidopteran example: the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and the Viceroy butterfly (Basilarchia archippus) bear close resemblance to each other as adults and both are distasteful to birds.  Contrast with Batesian mimcry . 
 
Oligophagous: If a caterpillar is known to eat more than one plant species (its hostplants) but only a few plant species, then the caterpillar is said to be oligophagous. Contrast this with monophagous and polyphagous.
 
Perching: A behavior exhibited by some butterfly species, in which a male defends a territory against other males of the same species by perching in a conspicuous spot and then darting toward other males if they approach the territory. Typically, a male will periodically fly a “patrol route” through the territory in addition to perching. There is some controversy about one aspect of perching: when a male flies toward another butterfly, has it already recognized that the other one is male, or does it approach the other one to determine its sex?
 
Pheromone: A chemical released by one organism and sensed by another individual of the same species. Among Lepidoptera pheromones are often used to direct one sex to the other, to facilitate reproduction. Typically, the male follows a pheromone to the female. This communication method is especially important for night-flying moths. Each species is likely to utilize a unique (or nearly unique) chemical, thus avoiding inter-species reproductive errors.
 
Polyphagous: If a caterpillar is known to eat more than a few plant species (its hostplants), then the caterpillar is said to be polyphagous. Contrast this with monophagous and oligophagous.
 
Puddling: A behavior of some lepidopteran species in which they land near a small body of water and use the proboscis to ingest materials from the moist area around it. Although it is obvious that they obtain water in this way, it is believed by many that the most important gain for puddling animals is the dissolved salts.