Lepidoptera

Butterflies and moths
The clipper, Parthenos sylvia (Papilionoidea: Nymphalidae: Limenitidinae)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Subclass:	Pterygota
Infraclass:	Neoptera
Superorder:	Endopterygota
Order:	Lepidoptera Linnaeus, 1758
Suborders
Glossata This is by far the largest group, and includes all those where the adult imagos suck nectar from flowering plants. Aglossata Heterobathmiina Zeugloptera

The order Lepidoptera is the second biggest order of insects. It includes the moths and butterflies including the skippers. There is no common word for the group: ordinary people talk of "butterflies and moths".

The order has more than 180,000 species in 128 families and 47 superfamilies.^[1] They are 10% of all the described species of living organisms.^[2][3] The Coleoptera (the beetles) is the only order that has more species.

The name, Lepidoptera, comes from the Ancient Greek words λεπίδος (scale) and πτερόν (wing).

The earliest discovered fossils date to 200 mya or earlier.^[4][5] This early origin was long before flowering plants evolved. Earlier butterflies must have been adapted to a habitat of cycads and conifers, something which had not previously been suspected.^[5]

1. ↑ "The Lepidoptera Taxome Project draft proposals and information". Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University College London. Retrieved 2007-03-05.
2. ↑ Mallet, Jim (12 June 2007). "Taxonomy of Lepidoptera: the scale of the problem". The Lepidoptera Taxome Project. University College, London. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
3. ↑ "Lepidoptera Taxome Project". Lepidoptera Taxome Project. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
4. ↑ Briggs, Helen. Meet the butterflies from 200 million years ago. BBC Science & Environment. [1]
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Van Eldijk etc 2018. A Triassic–Jurassic window into the evolution of Lepidoptera. Science Advances 4, #1. [2]