Birdwing butterfly A large butterfly from the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Males are brightly coloured but females are darker. The Queen Alexandra's birdwing is the largest known butterfly, with the female's wingspan at 28 centimetres (11 inches).

Brushfooted butterfly A butterfly with shortened, hairy front legs. It has bright markings on the upper side of its wings and camouflaged colours on the underside. Brushfooted butterflies include admirals, monarchs, emperors, morphos and snouts.

Burnet moth A small red and black moth. Its colours warn predators it is poisonous.

Carpenter moth A large moth with speckled brown wings that camouflage it against bark. Its caterpillars bore into trees.

Caterpillar The larva of a butterfly or moth. Caterpillars feed mostly on leaves but some eat other insect larvae. Many are poisonous or are covered in spines and stinging hairs to deter predators.

Chrysalis The pupal stage of a moth or butterfly’s life, when it changes into its adult form.

Clearwing moth A moth with a dark body and transparent wings. It may have red or yellow marks to make it look like a wasp.

Clothes moth A small brown or yellow moth, whose tiny caterpillars feed on the fibres in human clothing, especially wool.

Emperor moth A large moth with brown or white wings and large eyespot markings. It lives in cool habitats, often in forests.

Eyespot A marking that looks like the eye of a large, predatory bird or mammal. Some butterflies and moths have eyespots to scare potential predators.

Geometer moth A slim moth with broad wings. Its young are called inchworms.

Giant silk moth A large moth from Asia. Its caterpillars, called silk worms, produce silk to make their cocoons. This is used by people to make silk cloth.

Gossamer-winged butterfly A small, bright butterfly. Gossamers include hairstreaks, coppers and blues. The caterpillars of some species emit smells that attract ants, or mimic the squeaking calls of ant larvae. Ants look after the caterpillars in exchange for the honeydew they produce.

Hawkmoth A large, fast moth that hovers over flowers to feed on nectar. Hawkmoths have the longest tongues of any insect.

Leafroller moth A stocky moth whose caterpillars construct cocoons out of leaves rolled around their body.

Lepidoptera The order of insects to which all butterflies and moths belong. They all have scaled bodies and four large wings.

Luna moth A large, pale green moth with long wing tails patterned with crescent-shaped markings. The luna moth’s wingspan can measure more than 12 centimetres (5 inches).

Monarch butterfly A black and orange butterfly that migrates more than 3000 kilometres (nearly 2000 miles) from Canada or North America to Mexico. Here, thousands of monarchs cluster on trees for the winter.

Morpho butterfly A large blue or green butterfly from the tropical forests of South America. Its wingspan can reach 20 centimetres (8 inches) across. Adults feed on rotting fallen fruit.

Owl butterfly A large, dark butterfly with orange eyespots that look like owl eyes.

Pieridae A large family of butterflies that are white, yellow or orange, often with dark markings. The white cabbage butterfly is a common member of the family, known for the damage it does to crops and gardens.

Skipper A small insect that moves with a skipping motion from flower to flower. Skippers have moth-like bodies but upright wings like butterflies. Most species have club-like antennae that end in small hooks.

Snout moth A large, hairy moth with elongated mouthparts. Its young are called tent caterpillars because they live together in tent-like nests made from silk.

Swallowtail A large, colourful butterfly with tail-like extensions to its hind wings. Swallowtails beat their wings slowly, just five times a second. Their caterpillars are camouflaged to look like bird droppings.

Tiger moth A large, dark moth, patterned with colourful stripes or spots. Its furry caterpillars are often called “woolly bears”.

Tussock moth A dull-coloured moth, whose caterpillars are covered in fur. Tussock moths includes the gypsy moth, satin moth and nun moth.

Consultant: Chris Jarvis