I did not think butterflies / moths was a phylogenetic distinction.
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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Many species of butterlies and moths eat honeydew, aka aphid poop, so no nectar needed. Also the larvae do the bulk of the eating. Imagos of lepidoptera only need to survive not grow so food requirements are fairly low.
And now we can link moths to the no poop guy!
The real reason he didn't want to shit, was because he learned that moths are attracted to it and he is deathly afraid of moths.
Can somebody explain the comment? They all look like butterflies, not moths
Oldest known butterfly fossils are 56 million years old. Moths are much older. The picture is of butterflies but the fossils are going to be moths.
thank you. long live the lepidopterans!
Yeah, but 230 million years is/would be new info & older than thought.
Edit: o shit ... with wings.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0895981125002469
This specimen comes from a communal latrine in the lower Carnian deposits (∼236 Ma) of the Chañares Formation, La Rioja Province, northwestern Argentina. The tiny fossil scales are hollow and ornamented, which is a synapomorphy of Lepidoptera and suggests that they could belong to this group. If this is the case, the Chañares scales would partially fill the temporal mismatch between phylogenomic date and the fossil evidence of butterflies and moths because they preceded the previously oldest lepidopteran record by c. 35 million years. Moreover, the scales have a combination of features present in early diverging glossatan lepidopterans. The inclusion of the temporal data provided by the Chañares scales into an updated temporal calibration of lepidopteran phylogeny shows that the proboscis, a key evolutionary novelty for the group (Glossata), evolved between c. 260–244 Ma. Thus, the proboscis-bearing lepidopterans would be part of the repertory of new plants and animals that diversified during the aftermath of the EPME.
Well the molecular clocks put the divergence back to about 100 Ma to 66 Ma years ago.
From Wikipedia:
Molecular clock estimates suggest that butterflies originated sometime in the Late Cretaceous, but only significantly diversified during the Cenozoic,[10][1] with one study suggesting a North American origin for the group.[1
What came first; moths or lamps?
Lamp, the giant one in the sky.
Legends say some of the original moths are still flying towards it.
Moth sacrifice their eternity so Icarus can fly.
who do you think made the moon?
Poop came before everything.
What did they eat? Or was it only caterpillars eating and butterflies fucking everywhere? Man the Permian was freaky.
Also why are they not 2 metres wide? Disappointing.
Realistically speaking, would they even be able to support a body that large on those types of wings? Or would they have to evolve some form of rigid structure like a bird or bats wings?
Worked fine for Dragonflies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganeura They had wingspans of up to 75 centimeters.
'Butterflies with bat wings feeding on dwarf mammoths' now a thing in my mind
Giant butterflies that hypnotize people and suck out their souls are a major element of China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station." Highly reccomended if you like fantasy.