Utah Bug Club!

Butterflies

Moths
Beetles
Dragonflies
Other Insects
Meetings & Field Trips
Insect Life Cycles
Habitats
Equipment & Supplies
Starting a Collection
Alfalfa Fields Valley Rivers Wet Meadows Wasatch Canyons Wasatch Hilltops Oquirrh Canyons Sagebrush Flats

Habitats

Habitat is defined as where you can go to find insects.  It is the local area where bugs like to live.  Some insects stay confined to their local habitat while others often stray from their habitat.  These straying insects are often considered migratory or "wary."

 

Butterflies and Moths:

Butterflies and moths' preferred habitat more often than not is highly tied to the hostplant that their larvae or caterpillars feed on.  Butterflies and moths do not have chewing mouthparts to ingest plants; but their caterpillars do.  Since female butterflies and moths spend the majority of their lives flying near their plants that their offspring will feed upon, and since male butterflies and moths often seek out females of the same species, it goes to reason that the best butterfly and moth habitat for any species is to locate where the "right" host plants live.

In fact,  many local butterfly and moth (lepidoptera) experts have also become plant experts as they have not only learned the species name of many plants; but they also understand the preferred habitat of these plants.

If you take this reasoning one step further, in order to find the right habitat for host plants, you need to find areas that receive WATER.  Butterfly and moth habitats, either naturally or artificially, receive adequate levels of water to sustain these plants and support colonies of butterflies and moths.

Utah County Butterfly and Moth Habitats:

Your own yard!

Alfalfa Fields

Valley Floor River Parkways

Valley Floor Wet Meadows

Wasatch Mountain Canyons

Wasatch Mountain Hilltops

Basin & Range Mountain Canyons (Pinyon Juniper)

Sagebrush Hills & Flats

Beetles:

<Coming Soon>

Dragonflies:

<Coming Soon>

 

 

Back to Home Page