Fun with Taxonomy: Butterfly Taxonomy

Science Ahead Warning! Much like Dr. Sheldon Cooper and his friends, the staff of MOSI Outside are dedicated geeks. We love entomology and etymology, zoology and botany and the curious naming conventions of all living things. Thus, in our geekery, we wish to give the gift of a taxonomic explanation series that we shall call: Fun with Taxonomy. 

We're awfully fun at parties. 

In an attempt to protect all brains from accidental science content, we will helpfully label all posts in this series with a tree of life image. When you see this tree, mentally prepare yourself for science content, terms with which you may not be familiar, and possibly a few history lessons. Get yourself a cup of tea and dive into some science. Now, let's have some Fun with Taxonomy!

So where do butterflies belong within the ranks of all living things on our planet?

To answer this question will require an article that includes a great deal of science content. Be not afraid and go forth ready to learn something new. Some of these words you may remember from biology class, but some may be entirely new to you. Although it may not be the most exciting article of all time, it will certainly prove an excellent party trick if you can manage to memorize and or all the information below.

Carl Linneaus on his expidition to Lapland
painted by Martin Hoffman 1737

Taxonomy and You: Where does stuff fit in?

Scientists use a system called taxonomy to classify living things according to similarities and common ancestry. The word taxonomy comes from the Greek words taxis (meaning 'order' or 'arrangement') and nomos ('law' or 'science').

Modern taxonomy was born from the work of Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) who began the task of classifying living things based on similar characteristics. Linnaeus also laid the groundwork for the system of binomial nomenclature or 'Latin name' which utilizes a genus and specific name or epithet to create a full scientific name for a creature. Binomial nomenclature gets us around the sticky problems of one species having many common names by providing a scientific term by which we will always know which species is being referenced.

Modern taxonomy has been greatly expanded from the days of Linnaeus and now uses DNA universal common descent. Upon this theory is built our modern tree classification system that traces back individual species through increasingly larger groups that return to a single common ancestor now believed to have lived some 3.9 million years ago

Butterfly Taxonomy: A big mess of bugs put into their places.

So with butterflies, let is begin at the top, with the Kingdom Animalia.

Kingdom Animalia

Malachite

The Kingdom Animalia is made up of mostly multi-cellular Eukaryotic organisms (those with complex cell structures contained within membranes) with a body plan that becomes fixed as they develop. Most Animalia are motile or can move independently and spontaneously and are heterotrophs or can ingest other organisms for sustenance.

Phylum Arthropoda

Arthropods are invertebrates that possess an exoskeleton (or external skeleton), segmented bodies and jointed appendages. The term Arthropod comes from the Greek for 'jointed-foot'. This Phylum includes insects, arachnids (spiders) and also crustaceans (crabs and lobsters).

Class Insecta

The Class Insecta includes all insects having a three part body (head, abdomen and thorax) and three pairs of jointed legs (six total legs). Insects represent some half of all known living organisms and the number of individual species is numbered somewhere between six and ten million.

Subclass Pterygota

This Subclass includes all insects that have wings. The Pterygota subclass also includes all insects who had winged ancestors even if they no longer possess wings.

Infraclass Neoptera

This infraclass includes all winged insects that are able to flex their wings over their abdomens

Superorder Endopterygota

Also known as Holometabola, the Super Order Endopterygota are insects that go through a four-part life-cycle consisting of egg, larval, pupal and adult stages. Members of this Superorder also undergo a radical or complete metamorphosis that separates their larvae and adult stages.

Order Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is the Order of insects that inclueds both butterflies and moths and the word Lepidoptera derives from the ancient Greek for 'scaled wing'. Other orders of the Class Insecta include Hymenoptera (ants, sawflies, wasps and bees), Diptera (flies) and Coleoptera (beetles). There are about 180,000 species in this order that are divided into 47 superfamilies and 128 families.

Suborder Glossata

The Suborder of Glossata refers to all butterflies and moths that have a coilable proboscis which is the feeding tube or tongue-like device that these insects use to sip nectar. The opposite Suborder Agathiphaga contains just 2 known species and are considered one of the most primitive living lineages of moths.

Rhopalocera (unranked)

Rhopalocera ('club-antenna') and Heterocera ('varied-antenna') are non-standard divisions used in the taxonomy of Lepidopterans to formally distinguish moths from butterflies. From this point on in the taxonomy of butterflies we move into the three superfamilies Papilionoidea, Hesperioidea and Hedyloidea. These three superfamilies form a clade which is a group of organisms that are all believed to descend from a common ancestor.

Superfamily Papilionoidea: The True Butterflies (5 families)

Papilionoidea are the first of the three superfamilies of butterflies. This superfamily contains most of what you would easily recognize as butterflies like the Monarch and various Swallowtail butterflies. These butterflies distinguished by their slim bodies, club shaped antenna and 4 wings that move independently of each other.

• Family Papilionidae: Swallowtails and Birdwings
• Family Pieridae: Whites and Sulphers
• Family Lycaenidae: Blues and Coppers
• Family Riodinidae: Metalmarks
• Family Nymphalidae: Brush Footed Butterflies (13 subfamilies)
• Subfamily Libytheinae: Snout Butterflies
• Subfamily Danainae: Milkweed Butterflies
• Subfamily Tellervinae:
• Subfamily Ithomiinae: Glasswings
• Subfamily Calinaginae: Calinagas
• Subfamily Morphinae: Morphos and Owls
• Subfamily Satyrinae: Browns and Satyrs
• Subfamily Charaxine: Leaf Butterflies
• Subfamily Biblidinae: Tropical brushfoots
• Subfamily Apaturinae: Emperors
• Subfamily Nymphalinae: Nymphs
• Subfamily Limenitidinae: Adelphas
• Subfamily Heliconiinae: Tropical Longwings

Superfamily Hesperioidea: Skippers (about 3500 species)

A Sister superfamily to the True Butterflies, Skippers are usually smaller in size with robust, hairy bodies more similar to that of a moth. The antenna of Skippers have a backward hooked club shape that resembles the end of a crochet hook. There are about 3500 species in the Skipper superfamily.

• Family Hesperidae (7 subfamilies)
• Subfamily Coeliadinae: Awls, Awlets and Policemen (about 75 species)
• Subfamily Hesperiinae: Grass Skippers (over 2000 species)
• Subfamily Heteropterinae: Skipperlings (about 150 species)
• Subfamily Megathyminae: Giant Skippers (about 18 species)
• Subfamily Pyrginae: Spread-winged Skippers ( about 1000 species)
• Subfamily Pyrrhopyginae: Firetips (about 150 species)
• Subfamily Trapezitinae: Australian Skippers (about 60 species)

Superfamily Hedyloidea: The "American Moth Butterflies"

These butterflies were first treated as a tribe of the Geometridea moths named Oenochrominae, the "Hedylicae". Native to Central and South America, members of this neotropical superfamily are also found on several islands of the the Caribbean such as Jamaica, Cuba and Trinidad. Although the first species were described in the early 19th century it was not until 1986 that a shift began in scientific thinking that led this group to be reclassified in 1995 as a sister superfamily to the True Butterflies. Hedyloids have an antenna that is similar to that of a moth and some of the species are even night flying.

• Family: Hedylidae
• Genus: Macrosoma (about 35 species)