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Broad orange moth with pink scalloped edges and clear wing windows on a smooth trunk

Arizona

Butterflies and Moths at Butterfly Wonderland

September 2013

Photographed in 2013, the year Butterfly Wonderland opened in Scottsdale, Arizona, this collection documents tropical butterflies and moths within the facility’s emergence gallery and 10,000-square-foot (929-square-meter) indoor conservatory. The climate-controlled conservatory recreates warm, humid rainforest conditions and contains thousands of free-flying butterflies from around the world.

Butterflies and moths belong to the insect order Lepidoptera, whose members have microscopic scales covering their wings. About 17,500 butterfly species have been described worldwide, including approximately 750 in the United States.

Lepidoptera undergo complete metamorphosis through four stages: egg, larva or caterpillar, pupa and adult. A butterfly pupa is commonly called a chrysalis. Many moth caterpillars spin a protective silk cocoon around the pupa, although not every moth species does so.

Several of the photographed butterflies have prominent wing eyespots. Research indicates that eyespots can serve different functions among species, including startling predators or redirecting attacks toward less vulnerable parts of the wings. The photographs document both the visual diversity of tropical Lepidoptera and biological adaptations associated with development and predator avoidance.

Monarch butterflies feeding on pink lantana blossoms in a sunlit garden
Half a dozen monarchs scattered across lantana flowers beside broad agave leaves
Long-tailed green moth hanging beneath a rail of clustered brown pupae
Tawny butterfly with cream-spotted black wingtips resting on a glossy leaf
Large russet moth with pale wing windows on a slim trunk, a tiny striped butterfly below
Brown butterfly with a row of ringed eyespots hanging under drooping palm fronds
Butterflies crowded together on a yellow surface, one wing banded with blue and eyespots
Orange-and-black monarch resting with wings open on a bamboo leaf
Eyespotted brown butterfly perched on a green painted concrete ledge
White butterfly veined and spotted in black, at rest on a palm frond
Swallowtail with pink hindwing patches poised on a stem above mulched planting beds
Iridescent blue butterfly with worn wing edges resting on a wooden deck
Broad orange moth with pink scalloped edges and clear wing windows on a smooth trunk
Two orange-and-black butterflies hanging one below the other from bamboo leaves
Cream butterfly patterned in black clinging beneath a glossy green leaf
Mottled brown butterfly with two large eyespots pressed against a forked pale trunk
Dark swallowtail marked with red and pink perched on a thin leafy sprig
Bronze-veined swallowtail with red shoulder flashes above dense conservatory greenery
Black swallowtail banded with cream spots, wings spread over dark leaves

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