Butterfly Glossary
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Butterfly Glossary |
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TARSUS The tarsus (plural tarsi) is the last segment of a butterfly's (or a moth's) leg. The tarsus has gripping claws and has taste organs, so the insect can grip a flower and determine if it contains a sweet nectar to drink. |
TAXON A taxon is category in the classification of living organisms. The taxa (the plural of taxon) in the Linnean system are kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. |
 TAXONOMY Taxonomy is the science of classifying organisms into groups by structure, origin, common ancestor, etc. |
 TEMPERATE RAINFOREST Temperate rainforests are very wet, ancient forests that rarely freeze or get very hot. Most of the world's temperate rainforests are in the Pacific Northwest of the USA. |
 TENTACLES Some caterpillars have tentacles (also known as filaments) on their bodies. These fleshy appendages provide sensory information for the caterpillar. They are often mistaken for antennae. Monarch caterpillars have two pairs of tentacles. |
TERTIARY PERIOD The Tertiary period lasted from 65 to 1.8 million years ago. It followed the Cretaceous period (the end of the Mesozoic Era) and the K-T extinction. Many mammals developed then, including primitive whales, rodents, pigs, cat, rhinos, etc. |
 TIGER MOTH Tiger moths (Family Arctiidae) are common moths with colorful, tiger-like markings. These moths have a large, heavy body, and are slow fliers. Their caterpillars, called woolly bears, have long black hairs on top and rust-colored hairs on the underside. There are many species of tiger moths found in temperate regions in much of the world (like the Garden Tiger Moth illustrated above). |
 TIGER SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY The tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucas) is a strong flier with distinctive yellow and black striped markings on its wings and body (some females are brown or black, mimicking the poisonous pipevine swallowtail). This butterfly has a wingspan of 3.5-6.5 inches (9-16.5 cm) and is found throughout the USA and Canada. The caterpillar is plump and green with yellow eyespots; it looks like bird droppings when young. Larvae eat leaves from the tulip tree, sweet bay, wild black cherry, ash, lilac, aspen, birch, and choke cherry. |
 TREE NYMPH BUTTERFLY The tree nymph butterfly, also called the rice paper butterfly, paper kite butterfly, or wood nymph (Idea leuconoe) is a distinctive black and white butterfly. The wingspan is 95 to 110 cm across. The chrysalis is yellow with black markings. It is from Southeast Asia. Classification: superfamily Papilionigiae, family Nymphalidae, subfamily Danainae, Genus Idea, Species I. Leuconoe. |
TROPICAL RAINFOREST Tropical rainforests are warm, very wet forests that do not freeze (the temperature remains over 75°F=24°C) and do not get extremely hot. Tropical rainforests cover about 7% of the Earth's surface in a band around the equator. |
TUBERCLE A tubercle is a small, knob-like or rounded protuberance (a short, fat tentacle) that sometimes bears a spine or stores and can release a chemical (like everscible tubercles). Many caterpillars have tubercles. For example, the caterpillars of the Cecropia and Cynthia moths have many tubercles along the body. |
TYPE SPECIES A type species is the species of an organism from which a new genus is named. For example, Tyrannosaurus rex is the type species for the genus Tyrannosaurus. |
TYPE SPECIMEN A type specimen is the set of fossil remains of an organism from which a new species is named. |
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Butterfly Glossary |
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