Of all insects, butterflies (and moths) are perhaps the most celebrated because of their beautiful colors and graceful flight. The common name butterfly comes from the colloquial name for the Brimstone Butterfly, Gonepteryx rhamni which was known in England as "the butter colored fly".

Butterflies belong to the Order Lepidoptera which means "scaly wings". These scales contain pigments which account for the butterflies' brilliant colors and distinctive patterns. Of the approximately 170,000 known species of Lepidoptera, about one-tenth are butterflies.

Their ability to adapt in habitats ranging from Arctic tundra to warmer tropical rain forests have made them some of the most successful creatures on earth.

Butterflies are classified into more than two dozen families.