Butterflies and dragonflies

Butterflies

The Peltosaari wetland offers a lot of food plants for butterflies.

Lemon butterfly

The lemon butterfly is common in our country up to the height of Oulu. The male is a beautiful yellow, the female is greenish white. The wings are pointed. It is one of the longest-lived butterflies: it hatches at the end of July, hibernates as an adult and flies in early spring until the beginning of June.

A damselfly

The butterfly hibernates as an adult and is sensitive to frost. The female butterfly flies from April to June, and the new generation from July to September. At the end of summer, it especially enjoys the nectar of the field thistles in the picture. The species is the most common species of butterfly in Riihimäki, followed by the lantu and the nettle butterfly.

Wood butterfly

The forest rock butterfly is common throughout the country and thrives in forest areas. The female is lighter brown than the male. Flies from July to early September and overwinters twice, first as an egg and then as an immature larva.

Aurora butterfly

The dog of the aurora butterfly can be recognized by the orange spot on the front wings. The female does not have orange, but the female resembles a butterfly in flight. Only up close are the black tips of the wings and the green-yellow patterns on the undersides revealed. At the beginning of the flight time, only males are often seen, the females hatch later. Dogs search for females by going around the edges of open spaces and border lines of meadows. Butterflies occasionally visit the flowers of early summer, especially the blooms of yellow chicken cabbage.

Knight butterfly

The knight butterfly occurs in rare numbers throughout the country in meadows and gardens. This our largest species of butterfly flies in June-July. Sometimes in Southern Finland another generation is born in August. The butterfly cocoon hibernates.

Dragonflies

Skillful dragonflies shuttle through the air on sunny days. There are 52 species of dragonflies in Finland.
Dragonflies catch their prey in the air. They prey on other insects such as flies, wasps, daisies and butterflies. The flying wolves are weaker pilots. They especially eat aphids, mosquitoes, daisies and butterflies.