(Describer) The Bug Chicks, and Solpugid Productions, in association with Texas A and M University. Insects and Human Society.

[Viola playing "Newest Hottest Whatever"]

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(announcer) And now it's time for the shy supermodels of the insect world: the butterflies and the moths.

(Describer) They wear face paint. Different insects are shown: including a small green one with wings, hundreds of tiny ones swarming a worm, one with transparent wings climbing a tree, a thin green one looking around, two with translucent white wings, and one crawling on a green leaf before flying off. Titles: The Insect Orders.

[Morgantj plays "Cafe Connection"]

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(Describer) Order Lepidoptera : Butterflies and Moths. Taxonomy.

Butterflies and moths are in the order Lepidoptera. "Lepido" means scales in Greek, so these are the scale-winged. This refers to the tiny iridescent scales that cover the bodies and wings of these animals. Under the microscope they look like layered fish scales, but they're actually flattened hairs. So, Kristie, do you have a good way to remember the name "Lepidoptera"? I do. Flash cards.

(Describer) Title: Morphology.

You know what a butterfly looks like, right? It's just one of those things you know. These insects are easy to identify by their four flat, non-folding wings. They all have six legs. However, there is a family of butterflies, the nymphalids, that looks like they only have four. Mouthparts. Most butterflies and moths have a long, coiled proboscis. This is where all of the mouthparts fit together to form a flexible tube that enables them to probe into flowers to drink nectar. They basically invented the curly straw. But some species of adult moths have no functioning mouthparts and don't feed at all. They just live off their fat reserves until they reproduce and die. And now for the advanced course. How do you tell butterflies from moths? There are lots of general statements people make that are wrong, like "Butterflies fly during the day and moths only fly at night." Not entirely true. "Butterflies are pretty, and moths are dull and brown." Wrong again. This is a moth.

(Describer) Black and white.

"Butterflies hold their wings up at rest, and moths hold them flat." Not good. There's only one true entomological way to tell them apart-- you have to look at the antennae. Butterflies have capitate antennae that end in a ball or a curl, and moths have varied-antennae that can be straight, plumose, or curly; but, as always, there are exceptions. All larvae of lepidopterans, called caterpillars, have chewing mouthparts. They use their strong jaws to eat vegetation, fibers, and stored goods. Now, caterpillars also have only six legs. Those extra pairs on the abdomen are called prolegs, or false legs. They're not real legs. Instead, they're extensions of the soft exoskeleton. Caterpillars' bodies move in a wave motion by contracting muscles in the end through to the head capsule. As each section contracts, the prolegs grip. Little hooks on the ends of the prolegs, called crochets, help them stick to tiny stems.

(Describer) Title: Biodiversity and Distribution.

There are 175,000 species of lepidopteran, and most of them are moths. You can find them all over the world. When we think of butterflies, we think of the tropics, and rightly so. The conditions are perfect. But did you know that there are high-altitude butterflies in the Himalayas that live at 6,000 meters? You can find lepidopterans all the way from the Arctic to Australia.

(Describer) Carrying a net with a handle, Kristie walks away.

There's no point denying that these insects are exceptionally beautiful. They come in every color you can imagine. And as we were setting up our camera, we saw a blue morpho flying through the rainforest here in Costa Rica. It was literally like a blue strobe light in the forest, like a flying jewel.

(Describer) Title: Biology and Life History.

Lepidopterans are herbivorous almost without exception, and some species are host-plant specific. For example, monarch butterfly larvae feed exclusively on milkweed plants.

(Describer) Kristie:

So when I first started studying insects, I was pretty anti-Lepidoptera. I mean, I'm blond, I'm a chick. It's so cliché for me to like butterflies. But then I started to learn about caterpillars, and my mind was blown.

(Describer) Jessica:

They have incredible colors, alien body shapes, and crazy defenses. Caterpillars are bad mamajamas. Some have urticating hairs that cause irritation, and sometimes they can even be lethal. Others are toxic, filled with poison. And some just try to freak you out. You touch them, and strange fleshy horns grow out of their heads, filled with smelly substances. Caterpillars rule!

(Describer) Green striped ones crawl on a hand. Title: Metamorphosis.

Butterflies and moths undergo complete metamorphosis. Eggs hatch into caterpillars, which then pupate into the adult form.

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(Describer) In a hanging green cocoon, a t-shaped gap starts opening as what's inside pushes little by little.

(Describer) The cocoon opens almost completely as the adult pushes down. Then a yellow abdomen folds out and dark wings open. Later, the fully extended wings are brown with circles and lighter trim around the edges.

(Describer) Title: Collection. Kristie reaches into her net.

Aerial nets--these are nets that are mostly mesh, and their light weight diminishes damage to delicate wings. Traps and baits work well too. Some people use beer, rotting bananas, watermelons, and pineapples. It's like a butterfly love potion. And if that doesn't work, check out screen doors, under porch lights. You're gonna find something.

(Describer) Title: Human Impact. Jessica and Kristie lie on beds.

It's hard to measure the impact these animals have because they're so pretty. Right? They're glittery and fluttery, and they're pollinators, so they help pretty plants and flowers grow. Oh, my gosh, and when they land on flowers, it's like pretty on pretty, which is like pretty-squared, and that equals happiness. On a more serious note, while adult lepidopterans have little to no negative impact, their larvae can be a nightmare. This is because caterpillars are eating machines. Some major pests include tomato hornworms, cabbageworms, and cotton bollworms. These larvae cost millions of dollars in agricultural losses each year. On a final note about caterpillars and economics, you might be surprised to find out that without one caterpillar in particular, our entire culture of commerce-- the buying, selling, trading in money-- wouldn't even exist. The cultivation of the silkworm moth in China changed our world forever.

(Describer) A crane stands on a pavilion roof in an Asian garden.

Even though lots of moths create silk, only one species spins the kind of silk that we use for cloth-- Bombyx mori. Sericulture, or the cultivation of the silkworm moth, originated here in China. Okay, we're not in China. We're at the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. It's one of the best Chinese gardens in the country. But it really does look like we're in China, doesn't it?

(Describer) By a footbridge...

The history gets a little fuzzy, because it was so long ago, that it's now blended with mythology, but story goes Lady Xi Ling-shi was in the garden at her husband the emperor's behest because something was eating the mulberry leaves. She found some white larvae, and then a cocoon fell into her hot tea, and the silk unwound. This is how the secret of silk was found, and it was one of the most heavily guarded secrets in history. In fact, the Chinese kept it a secret for over 3,000 years. Silkworms eat only mulberry leaves. Once the silkworms pupate, the silk is slowly unwound. One cocoon can yield up to 900 meters, and it takes 5 strands of silk to create 1 thread, which is then woven into cloth. At first, only rulers were allowed to wear silk, and taxes were paid in grain and silk, but the secret was bound to get out. There are a couple of theories about how this happened. One states that a Chinese princess smuggled eggs and pupae in her hair. Another, that monks had hollow bamboo canes that they used to shove mulberry leaves, and eggs, and pupae out of the country. In any event, once the secret of silk was out, the world was forever changed. Silk became a kind of currency that was traded for other goods all over the world. The Silk Road was 4,000 miles of trade routes that connected the East with Africa and Europe. It basically started international commerce. Silks were traded along with expensive, rare goods like jewels, and teas, and perfumes, and spices. The big picture? The Silk Road was responsible for the spread of Buddhism from India to China, and the domestication of animals to carry goods really took off. In fact, it led to a less nomadic lifestyle because people started to settle along the trade route. Before the Silk Road, the West didn't even know China existed. All of this from a little moth. It's kind of mind-blowing.

(Describer) Title: Mythology and Culture.

The Blackfoot Indians believed that dreams were brought to us on the wings of a butterfly as we slept. And butterflies might have gotten their common name because of the old English belief that there were tiny little witches that stole bits of butter from the churn as they fluttered by. Not all myths are harmless though. It's true. Jessica has a special story to share. See, Jess is originally from West Virginia, home of the Mothman.

(Describer) She sits with a banjo by a fire.

1963, Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Population: not very many.

[chord]

A couple were driving down the road, nighttime, sees a giant creature land in front of their car-- part man, part moth, glowing red eyes. Sounds crazy, but they told the whole town about it. Nobody believed them until everyone else started to see it too. Sightings became more and more frequent until finally, one cold day in December, the bridge spanning the Ohio River collapsed, killing nearly 50 people. Was he a harbinger of doom or a messenger of death?

[chord]

After the bridge collapsed, he was never seen nor heard from again.

[finale]

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(Describer) Titles: Written and Produced by Kristie Reddick, Jessica Honaker Videographers: Kristie Reddick, Jessica Honaker Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.