Butterflies are brightly colored insects with four scaled wings and clubbed antennae. West Virginia is a fantastic place for them, hosting about 135 species. West Virginia's diverse plant life, which includes species from both the North and South, supports a wide variety of butterflies. Most species are limited to the immediate area of their host plants (the specific plants their caterpillars eat).

Butterflies belong to two main groups: true butterflies (brightly colored, larger wings) and skippers (smaller, stout bodies, rapid flight). We have five families of true butterflies here, including the swallowtails, whites and sulphurs, and brushfoots.

Butterflies go through four stages: egg, caterpillar (hatches and grows), chrysalis (hard-shelled transformation), and adult butterfly, which can live from a few days up to a year.

West Virginia's state butterfly, the Monarch (pictured), is known for its long annual migration to Central Mexico. Sadly, Monarch numbers have dropped steeply due to loss of milkweed (their only host plant) and climate change. Butterflies are vital to the environment because caterpillars recycle huge amounts of plant matter and adults are second only to bees in pollinating many flowering plants.