Casa Mojanda and the Mojanda Foundation have embarked on one of the first high altitude butterfly & moth collections in Ecuador. We started in July of 1997 and have currently collected approximately 40 different species. Specimens were found in agricultural fields, grazing areas, native paramo, and high altitude forests from 2900 to 3700 meters.

The butterfly and moth collection is part of a biological inventory that was started in 1997. A comprehensive natural resource inventory is essential for the long term goal of fully understanding and protecting the Lake Mojanda ecosystem.

A butterfly field guide does not yet exist for Ecuador and we have not been able to identify some of the specimens. Because so little is known about butterflies at these high altitudes we may be discovering new species. If you know the family, genus, species, or common name of Mojanda region butterflies and moths, we would be pleased to have you contribute to our inventory.

By assisting us in the above inventory and sharing the following general information with your friends and associates you can make a substantial contribution to our natural resource inventory and further our goal of protecting the Lake Mojanda ecosystem.

Some Fact about Butterflies and Moths

What are butterflies and moths? They are insects that belong to the order of Lepidoptera. Of the 170,000 species of Lepidoptera; only 10% are Butterflies. Like all insects, Butterflies and Moths have 6 legs. They also have antennae that are sensitive to touch, taste, temperature, wind movement and smell.

When did they appear? Moths first appeared on earth 100 to 190 million years ago. This was during the age of the dinosaurs and coincided with the appearance of birds. Butterflies appeared approximately 40 million years ago, probably evolving with flowering plants.

What do they eat? Butterflies and moths eat liquid foods such as flower nectar, tree sap, rotting fruit, bird droppings, liquid manure or liquid from around the eyes of living animals. A few moths have jaws and chew flower pollen. Male butterflies drink salts from muddy puddles to create special perfumes that attract females. Birds, bats, spiders, small mammals and lizards in turn eat butterflies and moths

How long can butterflies and moths live? Some live only a few hours while others live for months and migrate thousands of miles. You can determine the age of butterflies and moths by how many scales have been lost. The more worn the wings appear, the older the butterfly.

Their life stages: Butterflies and moths have 4 distinct life stages: egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult.

1) Egg: Female butterflies use taste pads on their feet to find a plant that their larvae (caterpillars) can eat; here they lay eggs.
2) Caterpillar: The body plan of the caterpillar has a head and 13 body segments. They have 3 pairs of true legs in front and 5 pairs of false legs in the back. Caterpillars need to shed their old skin 4 to 5 times during its life.
3) Pupa: It can take a caterpillar weeks or months to change from the pupa into a butterfly (depending on climate and species). In the pupa stage the larva liquefies and the cells reorganize into the features of an adult.
4) Adult: When the butterfly hatches the wings are wet, wrinkled, and only a fraction of the size. It takes 2 hours or more for the wings of a large butterfly to completely dry and expand to the full size. Male and female butterflies often have different colors. Males tend to be more colorful and females tend to be larger. Mating of butterflies and moths can last from 20 minutes to few hours.

How do butterflies and moths differ?

Moths: are usually active at night, have wings that are folded against their back, have various shapes of antennae, and are grouped into over 100 families

Butterflies: prefer daytime hours, have wings that are folded upright, have clubs at the ends of their antennae, and are grouped into 5 families.

Where do they live? The greatest number of butterfly and moth species can be found in the tropical rain forests. However they can be found in all types of climates from hot dry deserts to frozen Arctic tundra. Many species can live in more than one habitat.

Conservation Alert: Butterflies and moths can be seriously affected by environmental changes such as spread of farmlands and urban areas, by pest control programs, and by pollution. These changes alone can cause individual species to become rare or extinct.

For more information on butterflies and moths, we recommend the following reference book.

Butterflies & Moths, Pockets Full of Knowledge
Taylor, Barbara, 1996
DK Publishing.
ISBN 0-7894-0605-5

-Text by Marcus Koenen