Do moths turn into butterflies?

One day, the caterpillar stops eating, hangs upside down from a twig or leaf and spins itself a silky cocoon or molts into a shiny chrysalis. Within its protective casing, the caterpillar radically transforms its body, eventually emerging as a butterfly or moth. read more

Moths do not turn into butterflies. Moths and butterflies are both lepidopteran insects, but the butterfly is active only during the daytime and the moth is most active at night. Butterflies are usually brightly colored and somewhat larger than moths. Although butterflies are more beautiful, moths are probably more important environmentally. read more

While the butterflies form a monophyletic group, the moths, comprising the rest of the Lepidoptera, do not. Many attempts have been made to group the superfamilies of the Lepidoptera into natural groups, most of which fail because one of the two groups is not monophyletic: Microlepidoptera and Macrolepidoptera, Heterocera and Rhopalocera, Jugatae and Frenatae, Monotrysia and Ditrysia. read more