The Six Most Beautiful Butterflies In The World

Published February 21, 2012
Updated April 5, 2018

A look at the six of the most beautiful butterflies on Earth.

The Most Beautiful Butterflies: Blue Morpho Butterfly

Blue Morpho Most Beautiful Butterflies In The World

Calling the forests of Central and South America its home, the Blue Morpho Butterfly is one of the world’s largest butterflies. This fluttering creature’s wings are bright blue and have lacy black edges, the result of light reflecting off microscopic scales on the back of their wings. They are not all about aesthetics, however: the underside of this butterfly’s wing is a dull brown and serves as camouflage against predators.

Blue Morpho Butterfly

Blue Morpho Butterfly Photograph

Blue Morpho Butterfly Wings

Ulysses Butterfly

Ulysses Butterfly

The Ulysses Butterfly (or Blue Mountain Swallowtail) inhabits the northeastern coast of Australia. It’s electric blue hue can be seen from hundreds of feet away– particularly on the males, since the unfortunate females have a more muddled hue.

The Six Most Beautiful Butterflies In The World

Blue Mountain Swallowtail

author
Mamta Bhatt
author
editor
Savannah Cox
editor
Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.