Blue is the rarest occurring colour in nature, with no true blue pigments in plants. In some ways, blue butterflies are natures way of completing the colour spectrum. From South American wonders to local Tropical icons, here's some stunning blue butterflies from around the world…
The Palos Verdes blue butterfly is among the world's rarest. It's native to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southwest Los Angeles County, California, the United States.
The purple copper butterfly is one of Australia's rarest butterfly species and is only found in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales.
White Monarchs (nivosus) have been found throughout the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the United States. Generally, nivosus is extremely rare with only a few being reported each year. The exception is Hawaii where its frequency has recently reached 10% (Vane-Wright 1997).
Palos Verdes Blue butterflies (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis) are among the rarest in the United States. Native only to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in California, they were nearly extinct.
The Golden Royal (also known as the Dawnas Royal) is rare in Singapore. It was re-discovered in 2005 where a single individual was spotted in a reservior park. Since then there have been a few sightings at various places outside the nature reserve.
The Australian fritillary looks as ornate as it sounds: a striking black and orange butterfly with a delicate lacework of olive and pink on the undersides of its wings.
Catasticta sibyllae, named for Maria Sibylla Merian, is known from only two specimens.
The Pink Rose (Pachliopta kotzebuea) is a butterfly of the Papilionidae family. It is found in the Philippines.
Although butterflies with solid black coloring are uncommon, there's no shortage of mostly black butterflies. And you don't need to travel to some exotic tropical locale to find them. They're well represented in the United States.
Island Marble Butterfly History
This pollinator is one of the rarest butterflies in North America, and appears fuzzy with marbled green, yellow, white, and black wings that have a span smaller than 2 inches1.
Monarch butterflies also known as the king of butterflies possess 12000 eyes, which helps them to see in all directions. These butterflies possess two kinds of eyes, that is, compound and simple.
There are many species of “rainbow butterflies” and they live in different places around the world. Genera include Chrysiridia, Alcides, and Urania, each with several species. These are in the same sub- family, Uraniinae.
Fun fact: The stunning Scarlet Peacock butterfly is known to group in large masses of hundreds of butterflies, although it is very rare to spot.
The Cairns Birdwing butterfly is the largest of all Australian butterflies and found along northeastern Australia from Mackay to Cooktown.
Papilio ulysses, the Ulysses butterfly (also commonly known as the Blue emperor), is a large swallowtail butterfly of Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Adult Wanderer Butterflies are orange-brown with black wing veins and a black and white spotted band along the edge of the wings.
Papilio demoleus is a common and widespread swallowtail butterfly. The butterfly is also known as the lime butterfly, lemon butterfly, lime swallowtail, and chequered swallowtail. These common names refer to their host plants, which are usually citrus species such as the cultivated lime.
White butterflies are also believed to be a sign of good luck. They often appear where the energy is high, and Native Americans believe seeing white butterflies is a sign that summer is coming.
Common and widespread, this medium-sized butterfly can be found in gardens and hedgerows.
Achemon sphinx moths are some of the rarest moths in the world. They are only found in a few places on the planet and are very difficult to find. This moth is very small and has a wingspan of only about 4 centimeters.
Biggest butterfly: Queen Alexandra's birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) Female Queen Alexandra's birdwings are the biggest butterflies in the world, boasting a wingspan of around 27 centimetres. The endangered species lives in the rainforests of northern Papua New Guinea and plays an important role in the ecosystem.
The blue morpho is among the largest butterflies in the world, with wings spanning from five to eight inches. Their vivid, iridescent blue coloring is a result of the microscopic scales on the backs of their wings, which reflect light.