What is the order of a butterfly's life cycle?

Egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, adult

Why are monarchs toxic to birds?

Their caterpillars eat milkweed

Why do blue morpho wings shimmer?

Their scale structure reflects blue light

Butterflies Quiz: 10 Questions That Test What You Know

Monarch butterflies fly up to 4,000 kilometers to spend winter in the mountain forests of Mexico, and this butterflies quiz follows them there. Learn why butterflies taste with their feet, how wing scales make color and which giant birdwing lives in Papua New Guinea.

Start Butterflies Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Taste
How do butterflies taste their food?
Monarch
Where do eastern monarch butterflies spend the winter?
Scales
What covers butterfly wings?
Proboscis
What does a butterfly use to drink nectar?
Cycle
What is the order of a butterfly's life cycle?
Largest
Which is the largest butterfly?
Milkweed
Why are monarchs toxic to birds?
Blue
Why do blue morpho wings shimmer?
Sun
Why do butterflies bask in the Sun?
Mimic
Which butterfly mimics the toxic monarch?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: How do butterflies taste their food?
Answer: With sensors on their feet
Females also test leaves before laying eggs.
Q2: Where do eastern monarch butterflies spend the winter?
Answer: Mexico
Millions cluster on fir trees.
Q3: What covers butterfly wings?
Answer: Tiny scales
Their order name Lepidoptera means scale wing.
Q4: What does a butterfly use to drink nectar?
Answer: A proboscis
It coils up when not in use.
Q5: What is the order of a butterfly's life cycle?
Answer: Egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, adult
This is complete metamorphosis.
Q6: Which is the largest butterfly?
Answer: Queen Alexandra's birdwing
Its wingspan can reach about 28 cm.
Q7: Why are monarchs toxic to birds?
Answer: Their caterpillars eat milkweed
Their orange color warns predators.
Q8: Why do blue morpho wings shimmer?
Answer: Their scale structure reflects blue light
The color changes with the viewing angle.
Q9: Why do butterflies bask in the Sun?
Answer: To warm their flight muscles
They cannot fly when too cold.
Q10: Which butterfly mimics the toxic monarch?
Answer: Viceroy
Both may be distasteful to birds.

Butterflies Quiz – Wings of Color

Butterflies are insects with large, colorful wings covered in tiny scales. There are about 20,000 species worldwide, from tiny blues to the Queen Alexandra's birdwing of Papua New Guinea, the largest butterfly on Earth.

Butterflies go through complete metamorphosis: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult. Caterpillars eat leaves and grow quickly, then transform inside the chrysalis. Adults feed on nectar through a coiled proboscis and taste with sensors on their feet.

Butterflies are important pollinators and indicators of healthy environments. Many are declining because of habitat loss, pesticides and climate change. Planting native flowers and host plants like milkweed helps butterflies such as the monarch.

What This Quiz Teaches

Nature fans and gardeners will enjoy these questions.

How butterflies taste
Where monarchs migrate
What wing scales do
What the life cycle is
Why some butterflies are toxic

Did You Know?

Butterflies can see ultraviolet patterns.
Some butterflies drink tears and mud.
Glasswing butterflies have clear wings.
A group of butterflies is a kaleidoscope.
Painted ladies cross the Sahara.