Each butterfly or moth has thousands of finely tuned smell and taste receptor scales, bristles and pits. These are located on its feet, on its palps (moustache- like mouthparts) and on its antennae. The insects can thus distinguish countless plant and insect chemicals that waft on the wind in a complex, ever-changing gaseous \u2018soup\u2019.<\/p>\n

Learn more about butterflies and moths:\u00a0<\/h4>\n
Purple emperor butterfly guide<\/a><\/li>\n
Swallowtail butterfly guide<\/a><\/li>\n
\u00a0Why do male butterflies chase other butterfly species?<\/a><\/li>\n
10 ways you can get into butterflies<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
A male emperor moth can locate a female 8km away at night, by smelling her pheromones. Monarch butterflies search for milkweed, which their caterpillars eat, by combining visual cues of shape and colour with scent.<\/p>\n
Swallowtail butterflies use their antennae to pick up the aroma of their caterpillar food-plant (usually milk parsley in Britain), then before laying any eggs they drum their feet on it to confirm the scent and taste.<\/p>\n
\n
How does a caterpillar turn into a butterfly?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Can butterflies hear? And why do moths have ears and butterflies not?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Do you have a wildlife question you\u2019d like answered? Email your question to\u00a0 wildquestions@immediate.co.uk<\/a>\u00a0or post it to Q&A, BBC Wildlife Magazine, Immediate Media Company, Eagle House, Bristol, BS1 4ST.<\/p>\n
Main image: Common blue butterfly in Weymouth, Dorset, UK. \u00a9 Verity Hill<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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By Alex Morss Published: Monday, 10 October 2022 at 12:00 am Butterflies and moths lack a \u2018nose\u2019, yet they rely heavily on smell to find mates and food-plants, and in order to detect fungal diseases and parasites. How do butterflies and moths smell? Each butterfly or moth has thousands of finely tuned smell and taste […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":20949,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/how-do-butterflies-smell-and-what-about-moths.jpg",1920,2541,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/how-do-butterflies-smell-and-what-about-moths-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/how-do-butterflies-smell-and-what-about-moths-227x300.jpg",227,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/how-do-butterflies-smell-and-what-about-moths-768x1016.jpg",768,1016,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/how-do-butterflies-smell-and-what-about-moths-774x1024.jpg",774,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/how-do-butterflies-smell-and-what-about-moths-1161x1536.jpg",1161,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/10\/how-do-butterflies-smell-and-what-about-moths-1547x2048.jpg",1547,2048,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Alex Morss Published: Monday, 10 October 2022 at 12:00 am Butterflies and moths lack a \u2018nose\u2019, yet they rely heavily on smell to find mates and food-plants, and in order to detect fungal diseases and parasites. How do butterflies and moths smell? Each butterfly or moth has thousands of finely tuned smell and taste…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/20948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}