Butterflies, Ranked

Travels up to roughly 3,000 miles from Canada and the US to overwintering sites in central Mexico, a multi-generational migration no other butterfly matches. Its orange, black-veined wings are the most recognizable butterfly on Earth.

Its brilliant blue is structural color from microscopic scales that scatter light, not pigment, and its wingspan reaches about 12 cm. Few living things are as instantly dazzling in flight.

A large yellow butterfly with bold black tiger stripes and tailed hindwings, it is the official state butterfly or insect of several US states including Georgia and Virginia. A garden showstopper across eastern North America.

A striking yellow-and-black swallowtail found across Eurasia and North America, prized by naturalists and used as the type species of the genus Papilio. Its tailed wings and elegant glide are unmistakable.

Its four vivid eyespots startle birds, and it can hiss by rubbing its wings when disturbed. A hardy, long-lived species that overwinters as an adult across Europe and temperate Asia.

The largest butterfly in the world, with female wingspans exceeding 25 cm. Restricted to a small area of Papua New Guinea, it is endangered and legally protected under CITES.

One of the most widespread butterflies on the planet, found on every continent except Antarctica and South America. It undertakes long migrations, in some years crossing the Sahara.

Its dark wings slashed with bright red-orange bands make it a familiar sight in gardens across the Northern Hemisphere. Bold and territorial, it will even approach people.

The official state butterfly of Florida, its black wings with pale yellow stripes are unmistakable. Unusually, it eats pollen as well as nectar, which lets it live for months rather than weeks.

Bright orange wings hide elongated silver spangles on the underside that flash in sunlight. A common, fast flier through the southern US and the Americas.

Deep maroon wings edged with a ragged cream border; it overwinters as an adult and can live around 11 to 12 months, among the longest-lived butterflies. Often one of the first seen in early spring.

A colorful orange, black and blue-spotted butterfly common across Europe and Asia, frequently seen on buddleia and hibernating in sheds. Pretty and dependable, if unspectacular.

The male's buttery-yellow wings are one theory for the very origin of the word butterfly. Leaf-shaped when closed, it is well camouflaged but rather plain in color.

Its brown wings carry large multicolored eyespots meant to deflect bird attacks. Widespread and easy to find, but muted next to the flashier species.

A textbook mimic that copies the monarch's orange-and-black warning colors to fend off predators, distinguishable only by a black line across its hindwings. Clever, but it lives in something else's shadow.

A plain white butterfly whose green caterpillars chew ragged holes in cabbage, kale and other brassicas, making it a persistent garden nuisance. Introduced to North America, it spread across the continent as a crop pest.

Its voracious caterpillars feed in groups and can strip brassica crops, making it one of the most damaging agricultural pest butterflies worldwide. Invasive where introduced and genuinely loathed by growers.