Has your home been invaded by a kaleidoscope of butterflies? Or is a rabble of butterflies always causing fights? Either way, a person with lepidopterophobia would be horrified.
Children Are Like Butterflies drawing, www.sketchport.com
What are some collective nouns for butterflies?
Butterflies are gorgeous flying insects with large, scaly wings. Some are more beautiful than others, but they are all wondrous and intricate.
a flight of butterflies – A flight of butterflies set off on a journey to a faraway land. Will their trip be filled with wonder and discovery, or with fear and trepidation?
a flutter of butterflies – When a butterfly flutters its wings, it flaps them rapidly. Would a flutter of butterflies flutter their wings to flee an enemy?
a kaleidoscope of butterflies – A kaleidoscope is a continually changing pattern of shapes and colors. Hundreds of butterflies, a kaleidoscope of butterflies, would create a pattern of shapes and vivid colors that would be changing every second.
Monarch butterflies, wikimedia commons
a rabble of butterflies – A rabble is a disorderly crowd or mob. Until I started researching butterflies, I would have never thought of “rabble” as an appropriate collective noun for these beautiful insects. Read the rest of the article before you decide whether or not it fits.
a rainbow of butterflies – Besides being a bow or arc of prismatic colors appearing in the heavens opposite the sun and caused by the refraction and reflection of the sun’s rays in drops of rain, a rainbow is any brightly multicolored arrangement or display. This means that any group of butterflies would qualify to be described as a rainbow of butterflies.
chives and butterflies, flickr
a swarm of butterflies – A swarm is a great number of things or persons, especially in motion. So if you are surrounded by a flight of butterflies or a flutter of butterflies, you could also describe them as a swarm of butterflies. To me, describing any group as a swarm makes me think that they are about to attack.
a wing of butterflies – Since butterflies obviously have two wings, just as people have two arms, this one didn’t make a lot of sense to me. But wing can also be defined as the act or manner of flying. Now it makes sense.
My favorite collective noun for these winged insects would be a kaleidoscope of butterflies. Just the sound of it creates a beautiful picture in your mind.
Lepidopterophobia
Believe it or not, there are people who are afraid of these brightly colored winged insects. Some panic when a butterfly flits past or—oh, god—dares to invade their world and land on an arm.
butterfly on hand of a child, pixabay
So, I wonder, why on earth would people be so afraid of butterflies? Do they believe that instead of sucking nectar out of a flower that it will suck the blood out of their body? Do they have nightmares about being attacked by swarms of bloodthirsty butterflies?
I have witnessed this phobia. When my daughter was a little girl, she would freak out whenever a butterfly flew by her or landed near her. She would run to Mommy and grab hold of me while screaming and crying. As young as she was, did she know more about butterflies than I did?
Oh, by the way, people who suffer from lepidopterophobia might also fear moths. That means they would have to watch out for butterflies during the day and moths at night. Or they could always move to Antarctica.
How and what do butterflies eat?
The tongue of a butterfly functions as a straw; it is called a proboscis. This tongue is used to sip nectar from flowers. But nectar doesn’t provide all the nutrients the butterfly needs. So, what else do they eat?
two butterflies feeding on feces, wikipedia
They use this straw-like tongue to sip their sustenance from rotting fruit. Oh, and mud. Have you ever seen a kaleidoscope of butterflies sitting on a mud puddle? They aren’t just sitting there; they are sipping the mud. This is called “mud-puddling” or simply “puddling.”
Butterflies also eat some other pretty disgusting stuff—dung and rotting corpses. Since they must sip instead of chew, the corpse has to have decomposed until at least part of it is liquid. If you think about that for very long at all, it is rather sickening.
two butterflies drinking tears from turtles, wikipedia
I’m sure at least one time in your life a butterfly has landed on you. They are beautiful to look at, but this insect didn’t decide to grace you with its presence just so you could gaze upon its beauty. It is tasting you with its feet. If it stays? The salt in your sweat is what’s keeping this gorgeous insect on your arm or leg or other part of your body. If you start to cry while a butterfly is around, I’m sure it will slurp the tears right off your face. And since we do have salt in our blood, maybe the butterfly will try to get a taste of it too?
How fast can butterflies fly?
Most butterflies fly at between five and twelve miles per hour, but did you know that the skipper butterfly that flies as fast or faster than a horse can run?
Where are butterflies found?
Wherever you live, unless you happen to reside in Antarctica, butterflies are there. Maybe they don’t allow themselves to be seen very often. Maybe you feel they are playing a game of hide-and-seek with you, but they are there.
Butterflies do not like cold weather, so they migrate to avoid living in it. Most only travel short distances to do this, but species such as the Monarch travel thousands of miles.
How do butterflies defend themselves from predators?
Like a chameleon, some butterflies have the ability to disguise themselves and blend into their surroundings. The predator will believe that all it sees is a leaf or the bark of a tree, but “cryptic coloration” enables a butterfly to blend right into a leaf or some tree bark to avoid being spotted.
Other butterflies have toxic chemicals in their body. Predators have learned to recognize these brightly colored butterflies because these bright colors literally leave a bad taste in their mouth.
How can you tell butterflies and moths apart?
Many people get moths and butterflies confused. Butterflies are usually active during the day while moths are usually active only at night. Butterflies are normally more brightly colored than moths. The antenna of a moth is feathery while that of a butterfly is club-like with a swollen tip.
girl writing, etc.usf.edu
Writing Prompts
How can you use that information in your writing? A kaleidoscope of butterflies brings beautiful images into one’s mind. You could use that to write a children’s story about a family of butterflies and through the story teach young ones about the life of a butterfly.
Or maybe because of the things you’ve learned about the butterfly’s eating habits, you don’t think of them quite as fondly anymore. I still think they are beautiful, but. . .
You could write about a land where the butterflies change from feasting on corpses to craving live human flesh and blood.
You could use the name “kaleidoscope of butterflies” (or any other collective noun) for a group that appears to be friendly, but underneath are anything but that. A group of beautiful young ladies floats into a meeting of executives. They are supposed to be representing the company that a deal is being made with, but in reality, have come only to take control. Trained in the martial arts, they quickly take down every person in the room. Now, are they going to use this company they now have control of for good or for bad? Is it possible that they really are out to only do good?
Recommended Article: Cats – Egyptians, a Pope, & the Middle Ages
Amazon Link: Dance for Me – A once-thriving theater is rumored to be haunted by little Clarissa Salem, a young ballerina who disappeared from inside her dressing room many years ago. Now dilapidated and closed down, this theater is no longer visited, at least not to see the performances. One young girl double-dog dares another to spend the night in this theater. That is a perfectly safe outing for these two young girls, right? Unless little Clarissa is still hanging around.
In “The Hunger,” a butterfly wakes up to find that nectar from flowers no longer holds any interest for her. A strange new craving has taken over.
Amazon Link: Dance for Me – There is a second story in this book, “The Hunger,” that is about a little girl and her fear of butterflies.
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