Does a butterfly really live only 24 hours?

No, usually not. The term "butterfly" refers to over 20000 species of the order Lepidoptera, which encompasses over 175000 species (the rest are mainly referred to as moths and skippers). read more

Most butterflies live one or two weeks in the adult stage, some four to six weeks, and some, like the North American Monarch butterfly up to six months. A few species of butterflies like the Mourning Cloak and the Compton’s Tortoiseshell hibernate as adults and have a life span of ten to eleven months as adults. read more

Adult butterflies live for a considerable time, several weeks at least. Some butterflies live for months. Mourning Cloak butterflies in particular live as adults for almost nine months. Mayflies, on the other hand, are a completely different group of insects where the adults really do live for only a short time. read more