Subject: Re: Butterflies

From: Ron Rutowski <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 10:03:20 -0700

At 09:51 AM 5/14/96 +0000, you wrote:
>Can anyone tell me how many legs a butterfly has?
>
>We assumed that they have 6 legs since they are part of the insect
>family, but my mother has just found a 4 legged monarch butterfly!
>
>We have looked in a number of sources but can only find pictures taken
>from above the butterfly!
>
>

Butterflies have six legs like most insects.  However, in several groups the
first pairs of legs or forelegs can be greatly reduced in size and are not
functional in locomotion.   The Monarch butterfly belongs to one of these
groups which is commonly called the brush-footed butterflies to indicate
their greatly reduced forelegs.   To make things more confusing, in the
snout and some riodinid butterflies, males have reduced forelegs while
females do not!  The functional significance of foreleg reductions is not
understood.

Ronald L. Rutowski                              Phone:  602-965-4369
Professor and Associate Chair                           602-965-6241
Department of Zoology                   FAX:    602-965-2519
Arizona State University                        email:  [email-masked]
Tempe, AZ 85287-1501  USA