What Do Butterflies Eat
There is no one answer to the question: what do butterflies eat? It depends on the species of butterfly and its habitat. And if you want to get technical about it, butterflies don’t eat at all, they only drink nectar from flowers. Eat implies bite and butterflies do not have teeth. The caterpillar form of the butterfly, however, is an unabashed eater of all the food it can find.
Butterflies are attracted to plants by their scent and by their color. Butterflies are able to view plant colors differently from humans because they can see ultraviolet light. They are attracted to brightly colored plants in yellows, reds, purples, oranges and blues. There has been some research into which butterflies prefer which plants, so here is some information on what do butterflies eat, both as caterpillars and as adults. In fact, if you were to plant these types of food sources in your backyard you would attract butterflies like crazy.
Even among Swallowtail Butterflies there is no agreement on what do butterflies eat? For instance, the Eastern Swallowtail prefers butterfly bush, but as a caterpillar they prefer black cherry and oak. Zebra Swallowtails eat dogbane and rebud but as caterpillars they preferred pawpaw. The ever popular Spicebush Swallowtail likes the nectar from joe-pye-weed but as a caterpillar ate sassafras and spicebush. Black Swallowtails, on the other hand, like the taste of nectar from milkweed and phlox but as caterpillars will raid your garden for parsley, dill and carrots.
The family of white and orange sulfur butterflies likes nectar from yellow plants, choosing mustard, goldenrod and aster for nectar. The white and orange sulfur caterpillars like clover and garden vegetables in the legume family, such as broccoli and cabbage.
Sometimes the answer to “what do butterflies eat?, is not at all appealing. In fact, you might even wonder how this can be true for such a beautiful creature. Some butterflies do not sip nectar at all, instead they eat tree sap, dung, and carrion. Among these butterflies are the Red Admirals, Question Marks, Commas, Mourning Cloaks, Red-Spotted Purples, and Common Wood Nymphs. The caterpillar form of these same butterflies eat grasses, willow, oak and aspen.
Each species of the family of Skippers also prefer different meals. For example, Peck’s Skipper likes to sip the nectar of dogbane, ironweed and vetch while as a caterpillar he lived on grasses. The European Skipper prefers milkweed, daisy and fleabane while in caterpillar form he ate mostly orchard and timothy grasses.
Other types of butterflies would rather suck the juices out of rotting fruit whether on the tree or on the ground. All in all, there is quite a diversity among the diet preferences of all the different species of butterflies.