Difference Moth and a Butterfly

[johno147uk]

This is a genuine question, What is the difference between a moth and a Butterfly. I have seen daytime flying moths but never seen night time flying butterflies. is this the difference or is it something more scientific. thanks for any help.

[MetalMoth]

Well one difference is that butterflies tend not to fly in the night, though I think in the tropics there is a species of night flying butterfly. I think more scientific ways of separating the two are that moths have different antennae structure and tend to hold their wings in different ways. Not sure what else!

[Pete Collins]

According to the 'Collins Gem Guide' (no family connection , its my only reference book covering both Moths and Butterflies) there is technically no difference between butterflies and moths - there is no one thing that seperates ALL butterflies from ALL moths. Most butterflies fly during the day, most moths at night, but there are plenty of exceptions in both cases. Most butterflies rest with their wings vertical, most moths with their wings horizontal, but again there are plenty of exceptions.

Another thing that comes close to separating them is, as already mentioned by MetalMoth, the antennae structure. All butterflies have knobs on the end of theirs, while almost all moth antennae are 'thread-like or feathery'. But the day-flying Burnet moths, for instance, have knobs on the end of their antennae.

The thing that comes closest to separating them, apparently, is a bristle called a frenulum that links the forewings and hindwings of all moths (so they beat in unison). Only one butterfly in the world has a frenulum (an Australian skipper) - their wings beat together because they have a large overlap.

That's what my little referenc book says anyway, so I'll be interested to see what other people say about this.

Edit: The book also says that many European languages do not separate moths and butterflies.

[johno147uk]

Wow great info so far thank you for your contributions.

[MetalMoth]

Nice post Pete, it is what I thought, I knew it was difficult to give on thing that separates all moths from all butterflies. It is too obvious and tempting to just say that moths fly at night and also incorrect as of course we have lots of day flying moths. It is kind of like frogs and toads, I saw on QI once that there is no real difference between a frog and a toad. I mean of course they are different species but it is hard to say what makes them different. Of course we can say that toads have a more warty skin and prefer drier areas but that is a generalisation in the same way that saying moths fly at night is. You bit of info about the frenulum is interesting and useful to know!

[GuyF]

As the others have said, butterflies and moths are pretty much the same thing! All butterflies and moths are part of the order Lepidoptera, so the Lycaenidae (blue butterflies etc.) is just another family within the Lepidoptera along with Sessiidae (clearwing moths), Sphingidae (hawkmoths) and all the other families of butterfly and moth.
In the UK, all the species of Lepidoptera have been assigned a number, starting with the most 'primitive' species. In this list the butterflies occupy numbers 1525 - 1630, sitting in between the Plume Moths (Pterophoridae) and the Eggars (Lasiocampidae)! So, in a way, the butterflies are just specialised day-flying moths, and the division of butterflies and moths is something humans have decided upon, similar to the way that we have divided the 'micro' moths and 'macro' moths!
That's my understanding of the situation, although I'm happy to be corrected!
Guy