BUTTERFLY//MOTH DIFFERENCE????

[evoluhol at magnum.wpe.com]

In my article in Kaatskill Life magazine I listed 13 differences, and
pointed out that non of them are true all the time. For example: clubbed
antennae are not only in the Zygaenids, but in the Canstineids also.  In
the Amazon I have often seen Caligio (Owl butterflies) and giant skippers
flying at night, and swallowtail Urania moths always fly in the day, etc.
Contact me if you want to get a copy of the illustrated article.
     Increasingly it is becoming accepted that the distinction between
moths and butterflies is a determination of popular culture and not really
descriptive of the natural world.  Scientists have stopped using the terms
Rhopalocera (butterflies) and Heterocera (moths) and simply use the term
lepidoptera.

Dave