Brush-footed butterflies

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Description

All brush-footed butterflies have an atrophied first pair of feet that are covered with long hairs, like the bristles of a brush. Because of this, they are easy to identify, as they walk on four legs instead of six like other butterflies.

French name

Nymphalides

English name

Brush-footed butterflies

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Nymphalidae

Did you know?

Interesting facts

Nymphalidae, Satyridae and Danaidae were once considered different families. Today, Satyridae and Danaidae are considered subfamilies of Nymphalidae.

Brush-footed butterflies are represented by 101 species in Canada. It’s not surprising, considering that Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies in the world, with 5,000 species.

Species

Great spangled fritillary

Adults have bright rust-coloured wings with several black spots. Females have black marks on the edges of their wings.
Monarch

Monarchs are butterflies with orange, black-veined wings. Each wing has a black border with rows of white dots.
Mourning cloak

This large butterfly has a wingspan of 6 to 8 cm. Its wings are purplish brown, with a line of blue spots along a yellow border. Males and females look alike.
Painted lady

This beautiful butterfly has orange wings with black and white spots. The brown colouring of the butterfly’s thorax extends to the inner area of its wings.
Question mark

The question mark is one of the largest and loveliest of the Polygonia butterflies. Its wings are rust-coloured with many black and pale lilac spots close to the edges.
Red admiral

This butterfly’s wingspan ranges from 5.5 to 6 cm. Its forewings are black with white spots and a red stripe. Its lower wings are marbled brown and black, with an orange spot on the edge.
Viceroy

This butterfly’s wingspan ranges from 6.5 to 7.5 cm. Their orange colour contrasts with their black ribs. There is one row of white spots along the wide black edge of their wings.
White admiral

The caterpillar and chrysalid of this butterfly look like bird droppings, which protects them from predators. Adults have two pairs of black wings with white stripes.