Fun Facts About Caterpillars

Worldwide there are probably about 300,000 species of Lepidoptera, of which only an estimated 14,500 – or 5% - are butterflies.

A few caterpillars of the family Pyralidae are aquatic and have gills that let them breath underwater.

Caterpillars have 4,000 muscles - 248 of which are in their head. Humans only have 629 muscles.

The most potent defensive chemical found in any animal is produced by the South American silk moth genus Lonomia. It is an anticoagulant powerful enough to cause a human to hemorrhage to death. This chemical is being investigated for potential medical applications.

Lepidoptera, derived from the Greek works “lepido” for scale and “ptera” for wings, is the second largest order in the class Insecta.

As a rule, most butterflies are diurnal, brightly colored, and have knobs or hooks at the tip of the antennae. Most moths are nocturnal, are typically drab in color, and have thread-like, spindle-like, or comb-like antennae.

A moth pupa (caterpillar) transforms inside a cocoon and a butterfly pupa transforms inside a chrysalis.