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There are about 18,000 described butterflies.
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Their wings are made of hardened membrane covered by tiny scales--the "powder" that comes off if the wing is touched. (Don't touch them!) Like shingles on a roof, thousands of scales overlap to cover the wing, and can form intricate patterns. Butterfly wings are extremely fragile, and wear easily even during the course of normal use. Butterflies' antennae are tactile "organs" and can be used to "touch-taste" to identify food plants on which eggs can be laid. The antennae are also useful for smell, enabling females to detect male scents--pheromones--at close range, and may also help the insects balance. Their large, compound eyes can see in every direction simultaneously, but only, scientists think, as a blur and along a very narrow band of the color spectrum. Unlike most insects, butterflies do not have mandibles (jaws). Instead they suck up their food--liquids only--through a hollow tube called a proboscis. The proboscis can be up to half as long as the insect's body, enabling certain species to probe deeply into flowers for nectar. Diets vary according to species and can include nectar, mud, cow dung, and tree sap.
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