You’ll often see bright orange, yellow, green and white butterflies fluttering around your garden. But have you ever seen one in a shade of pink? Well, do pink butterflies exist in the first place?
No, pink butterflies do not exist. Some butterflies may appear pink or have a pink hue because of the iridescence of their scales, but there are currently no pink butterflies. Pink is a colour that does not exist in nature as there are no pink wavelengths.
What is the Rarest Colour Butterfly?
If there are no pink butterfly species, what are the rarest coloured butterflies?
Well, it turns out that blue butterflies are the rarest colour. Blue is already a colour that is hard to find in nature. There are no true blue plants; even if they tend to look blue to us, the wavelengths they give off prove they are not truly blue.
Blue butterflies are often thought to be nature’s way of completing the colour wheel since blue exists so rarely in other creatures.
Below, I have listed 10 of the rarest butterflies. Check them out and find out if you have been lucky enough to spot them!
Blue Morpho
The blue morpho butterfly is native to South America and has a wingspan of 5.5 inches. This butterfly boasts beautiful sapphire blue wings that are its signature.
Sadly, this butterfly is becoming less and less seen as its population decreases due to deforestation and climate change.
Island Marble
This butterfly is a subspecies of the marble butterfly and was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 1998.
Since its rediscovery, it has been on the endangered list. The island marble butterfly is only found on the San Juan Islands off the Washington state’s coast.
Schaus Swallowtail
This butterfly is found in southern Florida down into the Caribbean. With a wingspan of about 3.25 inches, it is a much smaller butterfly than the blue morpho butterfly.
The Schaus swallowtail butterfly has beautiful blackish-brown wings and yellow markings. The underside of their wings has rust-coloured patches decorated with an almost powder blue.
Kaiser-i-Hind
This butterfly is also called the Emperor of India, and with its stately green and yellow blotches, it is easy to see why.
These butterflies are native to the eastern Himalayan mountains. The Kaiser-i-Hind butterfly is protected throughout India and Nepal, but thanks to its bold and beautiful looks, collectors often come in search of butterflies to add to their collections.
Sadly, this butterfly is now threatened.
Zebra Longwing
You must expect a butterfly with black and white stripes with a name like Zebra Longwing. This is almost exactly what you get with the Zebra Longwing butterfly. However, there are red spots at the base of the wings.
This butterfly is native to South and Central America and can even be found throughout the southern part of the United States.
These butterflies are some of the few that can eat pollen in addition to nectar. This diet allows them to live much longer than other butterflies.
Chimaera Birdwing
When you put birdwing in the name of a butterfly, you would expect a massive butterfly, and that is exactly what you get with the Chimaera Birdwing!
Females can grow up to 7 inches in wingspan with males topping out at almost 6 inches!
The colours on these butterflies are enticing to many butterfly collectors. Females are dark brown with white spots, and the males are beautiful greens and yellows with splotches of black.
Bhutan Glory
This butterfly is considered a swallowtail butterfly, but the forewings are oval-shaped.
While the Bhutan Glory is a bit unique compared to other swallowtail butterflies, it is beautiful nonetheless. In addition to its unique shape, this butterfly is almost completely black except for a few wavy lines that are cream or off-white near its abdomen.
This butterfly is also found in the Himalayan mountains, sometimes 9,000 feet high!
Our 14 Fun Facts About Butterflies
Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing
The females of this butterfly species have a wingspan that can grow as large as 11 inches! These massive wings are brown and white on the females, but on the smaller males, the wings can be blue-green with black bands.
The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly was named after the Queen of England and is only found in Papua New Guinea’s Or Province.
Since this butterfly is so rare, it is illegal to own or trade and is considered endangered. The population never rebounded when a volcanic eruption destroyed its habitat in the 1950s.
Miami Blue
The Miami Blue butterflies are considerably smaller than most of the other ones on the list. These butterflies have a wingspan of only .87 to a little over an inch.
In males, the wings are a vibrant and awe-inspiring blue. Females are a tad duller and have a lot more grey with a bit of blue near the base of the wings.
Miami blue butterflies are native to Florida and are suffering from habitat collapse.
Palos Verdes Blue
The beautiful Palos Verdes Blue butterfly is almost tying with the Miami Blue for the rarest butterfly in the world.
Also with deep blue wings, this butterfly species is found in California‘s Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Sadly, this butterfly is becoming endangered and rare as they use deer weed as a plant to lay eggs and these plants are becoming harder to find as housing and other buildings are being built.
Habitat destruction is the leading cause of butterfly population collapse.
Another cause of collapse for the Palos Verdes Blue butterflies is that the adults only live for 5 days. Planting an abundance of common deer weed would increase the chances of the adult being able to mate and lay eggs in its short life span.
FAQs
Do you still have questions about butterflies and the interesting colours they can come in, then check out these:
Yes, there are some butterflies which cover the majority of the rainbow spectrum. The red lacewing butterfly, for example, starts with red on the wings which then goes through a rainbow of colours.
Yes, purple butterflies do exist. You’re not that likely to see one fluttering around your garden, however. The purple emperor is one of the most well-known purple butterflies.
