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Science & Tech > Other Life > Butterflies and Moths


Now updated for CSW19. New words, if any, and new inflections of existing words, are shown in red.


adonis a beautiful blue butterfly.
aphrodite a kind of butterfly.
apollo a large tropical butterfly > APOLLOS.
arctiid a moth of the Arctiidae family.
argus a butterfly with many eye-spots on its wings > ARGUSES.
armyworm the larva of a small moth that moves in large armies destroying crops.
aweto awato awhato awheto the so-called vegetable caterpillar of New Zealand.
bagworm one of several lepidopterous insects which construct, in the larval state, a baglike case which they carry about for protection.
birdwing a large tropical butterfly.
bobowler a type of large moth.
bogong bugong a noctuid moth eaten by Australian aborigines.
bollworm the larva of a moth which devours the bolls or unripe pods of the cotton plant.
bombycid bombycoid like or pertaining to the genus Bombyx, silkworms.
bombyx a moth of the genus Bombyx, which includes the silkworm moth.
brimstone a yellow butterfly.
browntail as in browntail moth, a kind of moth. No —S.
budworm a moth larva that feeds on plant buds.
burnet a moth of the genus Zygaena, having red-spotted wings.
butterfly can be a verb: to split almost entirely and spread apart e.g. a steak.
cabbageworm the larva of the cabbage butterfly.
cactoblastis a moth introduced into Australia as a biolgical control for the prickly pear > CACTOBLASTES.
cankerworm the larva of two species of geometrid moths which are very injurious to fruit and shade trees by eating, and often entirely destroying, the foliage.
cardinal a S. European butterfly.
caterpillar the elongated wormlike larva of a butterfly or moth.
cinnabar a kind of moth.
clearwing a transparent-winged moth of the family Sesiidae, often resembling wasps.
cleopatra a yellow butterfly.
codlin codling quodlin a kind of moth.
comma a kind of butterfly with strongly indented wing margins.
cornborer a European moth whose larvae have become a pest of maize in America.
cornmoth a moth of the clothes-moth genus.
cornworm a corn weevil, a corn moth larva.
cutworm a caterpillar, esp. of the moth genus Agrotis, that feeds on the stems of young plants.
drepanid a hook-tip moth.
earworm a BOLLWORM, the larva of a moth which devours the bolls or unripe pods of the cotton plant.
eggar egger any of several large brown moths.
eruciform like or resembling a caterpillar.
fireworm the larva of a small TORTRICID moth which eats the leaves of the cranberry, so that the vines look as if burned.
forester any of various noctuid moths.
fritillary any of several kinds of spotted butterfly.
fruitworm any of numerous insect larvae mainly of the orders Diptera and Lepidoptera that feed on or in fruits.
gatekeeper any of several Eurasian butterflies of the genus Pyronia.
geometer a geometrid caterpillar or moth.
geometrid any moth of the Geometridae, whose caterpillars are loopers.
goldtail as in goldtail moth, a European moth with a yellow tail tuft. No —S.
graine silkworm eggs.
grayling a woodland butterfly.
hairstreak a butterfly of the genus Thecla.
hawkmoth a kind of large moth.
hesperid any of numerous small butterflies of the family Hesperiidae, somewhat like moths; a skipper.
hopdog the tussock moth caterpillar.
hornworm a hawkmoth caterpillar.
inchworm another name for the LOOPER caterpillar.
leafworm a moth larva that feeds on leaves.
lepidopteran an insect such as moth or butterfly.
lepidopterid a moth or butterfly.
lepidopterous having four wings, such as a moth or butterfly.
looper a caterpillar of the Geometridae, so called from its mode of walking.
luna a North American moth with crescent-shaped markings. [L. luna, moon].
lycaenid any member of the Lycaenidae, a family of butterflies.
metalmark one of a family of tropical butterflies.
monarch an American butterfly that migrates in large numbers.
morpho a kind of tropical butterfly > MORPHOS. [Gk. Morpho, a name of Aphrodite].
mothlike like a moth.
mothproof to make proof against moths.
mothy full of moths > MOTHIER, MOTHIEST.
noctua a general name for any moth of the family Noctuidae.
noctuid a kind of night-flying moth.
noctuoid of or like a NOCTUID, a night-flying moth.
notodontid a member of the Notodontidae genus of moths.
nymphalid any butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.
oobit oubit woubit woobut a hairy caterpillar, esp. of the tiger moth.
palmerworm any destructive caterpillar.
papilio a genus of butterflies. [L. papilio, butterfly].
peacock a kind of butterfly, with prominent eye-spots.
pierid pieridine relating to the family Pieridae of butterflies, that includes the whites, brimstones, and sulphurs.
porina the larva of a moth that damages grassland.
prominent a stout drab-coloured moth with tufts on the forewings which stick up while at rest, the caterpillars of which typically have fleshy growths on the back.
pug any of several small geometrid moths.
pyralid pyralis pyralidid a kind of moth. [Gk. pyralis, from pyr, fire].
quodlin see CODLIN.
ringlet any of numerous butterflies of the genus Erebia, which have dark brown wings marked with small black-and-white eyespots.
saturniid any of a family of large tropical moths.
satyrid any butterfly of the family SATYRIDAE.
silkworm the larva of the Chinese moth Bombyx mori, that feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree: widely cultivated as a source of silk.
skeletonizer skeletoniser any of the larva of various moths that feed on leaves reducing them to skeletons.
skipper any small butterfly of the family Hesperiidae, having a hairy mothlike body and erratic darting flight.
spanworm the larva of any geometrid moth, such as the CANKERWORM.
sphingid a member of the Sphingidae family, hawk-moths.
swallowtail any of various butterflies of the genus PAPILIO.
tineid a moth of the family TINEIDAE.
tortoiseshell a kind of butterfly with colourful markings.
tortricid any moth of the family Tortricidae.
tortrix a tortricid moth, esp. of the genus Tortrix; a leaf-roller moth > TORTRIXES or TORTRICES.
troilus a large American butterfly > TROILUSES.
underwing any of various moths with conspicuous hindwings.
vanessa vanessid a butterfly of the red admiral genus Vanessa. [Perhaps for Phanessa, from Greek Phanes, a mystic divinity].
vaporer vapourer a day-flying moth of the genus Orgyia.
viceroy a showy North American nymphalid butterfly.
waxworm a moth that infests beehives.
webworm any of a number of caterpillars that spin webs in which they rest.
witchetty any of the edible grubs of certain moths and longhorn beetles. [Aborig. wityu hooked stick + varti grub.]
woobut see OOBIT.
woubit see OOBIT.
zygaenid zygaenoid relating to the moth family Zygaenidae, that includes burnet moths.