Facts

Moths and butterflies make up the order Lepidoptera and are among the most easily identifiable insects.
        -Defined as a monophyletic lineage by a suite of more than twenty derived characters, most obvious of which are
        scales on the wings and the proboscis.

In all but the most primitive forms, feeding in adults is accomplished by pumping liquid via tubular proboscis. The proboscis will usually elongate and is found coiled up underneath the head.

Lepidoptera pass through egg, larval and pupa stages while egg and mating disposition are carried out by the adult forms.
        *More on the life cycle of Lepidoptera can be found in the Life Cycle section of this website

The Lepidoptera is one of the two or three largest orders of insects with an estimated 160,000 named species.
        -One in particular for which this webpage was developed was Hemaris thysbe which belongs to the order,
        Sphingidae.

Lepidoptera represent the single most diverse lineage of organisms to have evolved primarily dependent on angiosperm plants.
*All from (Powell 2003)