Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers Reading Answers

Manimegalai Samidurai

Author

16-09-2025

Lepidoptera reading answers myths and misnomers reading answers

Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers reading practice test is provided with answers and explanations. This passage comprises 14 questions divided into two question types True/False/Not Given, Choose the correct letter, and complete the summary.

Check out our YouTube Channel to Practice Full-Length IELTS Reading Tests Daily

IELTS Reading Practice Test Demo

 

Table of contents:

Solution for Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers Reading Answers

Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers reading answers are listed in the table below. Verify your answers against our answer table, then correct any inaccuracies.

Answer Table

14. True 18. C 22. G 26. E
15. True 19. B 23. I 27. H
16. Not Given 20. A 24. F  
17. False 21. B 25. A  

Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers IELTS Reading Practice Test - Exam Review

Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers ielts reading answers are given here, which will help you excel in the IELTS reading practice test to challenge your reading skills.Paraphrasing can help you to understand the ideas clearly which makes you able to efficiently answer the questions.

Passage

We’ve provided the reading passage of Eva hesse. Read the passage and carefully complete the questions. Check the answers with our Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers reading answers with locations.

Lepidoptera

Myths and Misnomers
A buttercup is a small, bright yellow flower; a butternut is a yellow-fleshed squash; and, there is also a butter bean. The origin of the word ‘butterfly’ may be similar to these plants – a creature with wings the colour of butter – but a more fanciful notion is that ‘flutterby’ was misspelt by an early English scribe since a butterfly’s method of flight is to flutter by. Etymologists may not concur, but entomologists agree with each other that butterflies belong to the order of Lepidoptera, which includes moths, and that ‘lepidoptera’ accurately describes the insects since ‘lepis’ means ‘scale’ and ‘pteron’ means ‘wing’ in Greek.
Until recently, butterflies were prized for their evanescence – people believed that adults lived for a single day; it is now known this is untrue, and some, like monarch butterflies, live for up to nine months.

Butterflies versus Moths
Butterflies and moths have some similarities: as adults, both have fur membranous wings covered in minute scales, attached to a short thorax and a longer abdomen with three pairs of legs. They have moderately large heads, long antennae, and compound eyes; tiny palps for smell; and, a curling proboscis for sucking nectar. Otherwise, their size, colouration, and lifecycles are the same.
Fewer than one percent of all insects are butterflies, but they hold a special place in the popular imagination as being beautiful and benign. Views of moths, however, are less kind since some live indoors and fast on cloth; others damage crops; and, most commit suicide, being nocturnal and drawn to artificial light. There are other differences between butterflies and moths; for example, when resting, the former fold their wings vertically above their bodies, while the latter lay theirs flat. Significantly. butterfly antennae thicken slightly towards their tips, whereas moth antennae end in something that looks like a V-shaped TV aerial.

The Monarch Butterfly
Originating in North America, the black-orange-and-white monarch butterfly lives as far away as Australia and New Zealand, and for many children, it represents a lesson in metamorphosis, which can even be viewed in one’s living room if a pupa is brought indoors.
It is easy to identify the four stages of a monarch’s lifecycle – egg, larva, pupa, and adult – but there are really seven. This is because, unlike vertebrates, insects do not have an internal skeleton, but a tough outer covering called an exoskeleton. This is often shell-like and sometimes indigestible by predators. Muscles are hinged to its inside. As the insect grows, however, the constraining exoskeleton must be moulted, and a monarch butterfly undergoes seven moults, including fur as a larva.
Temperature dramatically affects butterfly growth: in warm weather, a monarch may go through its seven moults in just over a month. Time spent inside the egg, for instance, may last three to four days in 25° Celsius, but in 18°, the whole process may take closer to eight weeks, with time inside the egg eight to twelve days. Naturally, longer development means lower populations due to increased predation.
A reliable food supply influences survival and the female monarch butterfly is able to sniff out one particular plant its young can feed off – milkweed or swan plant. There are a few other plants larvae can eat, but they will resort to these only if the milkweed is exhausted and alternatives are very close by. Moreover, a female butterfly may be conscious of the size of the milkweed on which she lays her eggs since she spaces them, but another butterfly may deposit on the same plant, lessening everyone’s· chance of survival.
While many other butterflies are close to extinction due to pollution or dwindling habitat, the global numbers of monarchs have decreased in the past two decades, but less dramatically.
Monarch larvae absorb toxins from milkweed that renders them poisonous to most avian predators who attack them. Insect predators, like aphids, flies, and wasps, seem unaffected by the poison and are therefore common. A recent disturbing occurrence is the death of monarch eggs and larvae from bacterial infection.
Another reason for population decline is reduced wintering conditions. Like many birds, monarch butterflies migrate to warmer climates in winter, often flying extremely long distances, for example, from Canada to southern California or northern Mexico, or from southern Australia to the tropical north. They also spend some time in semi-hibernation in dense colonies deep in forests. In isolated New Zealand, monarchs do not migrate, instead of finding particular trees on which to congregate. In some parts of California, wintering sites are protected, but in Mexico, much of the forest is being logged, and the insects are in grave danger.
Milkweed is native to southern Africa and North America, but it is easy to grow in suburban gardens. Its swan-shaped seedpods contain fluffy seeds used in the 19th century to stuff mattresses, pillows, and lifejackets. After milkweed had hitched a lift on sailing ships around the Pacific, the American butterflies followed with Hawaii seeing their permanent arrival in 1840, Samoa in 1867, Australia in 1870, and New Zealand in 1873. As butterfly numbers decline sharply in the Americas, it may be these Pacific outposts that save the monarch.

Questions

Questions 14-17
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet, write:

TRUE               if the statement agrees with the information.
FALSE              if the statement contradicts the information.
NOT GIVEN    if there is no information on this.

14   One theory is that the word ‘butterfly’ means an insect the colour of butter.
15   Another theory is that a ‘buttery’ was a mistake for a ‘flutterby’.
16   The Greeks had a special reverence for butterflies.
17   The relative longevity of butterflies has been understood for some time.

Questions 18-21

Classify the things on the following page that relate to:
A     butterflies only.
B     moths only.
C     both butterflies and moths.

Write the correct letter A, B, or C, in boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet.
18   They have complex eyes.
19   Humans view them negatively.
20   They fold their wings upright.
21   They have more pronounced antennae.

Questions 22-27

Complete the summary below using the numbers or words, A-I, below.
Write the correct letter A-I, in boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet.
A   bacteria  
B   California  
C   Canada                        
D   four    
E   Mexico     
F   milkweed
G   North America         
H   the Pacific   
I     seven

The Monarch Butterfly

Monarch butterflies can live for up to nine months. Indigenous to 22……………….., they are now found throughout the Pacific as well.
Since all insects have brittle exoskeletons, they must shed these regularly while growing. In the life of a monarch butterfly, there are 23……………….. moults.
Several factors affect butterfly populations. Low temperatures mean animals take longer to develop, increasing the risk of predation. A steady supply of a specific plant called 24……………….. is necessary, and a small number of eggs laid per plant. Birds do attack monarch butterflies, but as larvae and adults contain toxins, such attacks are infrequent. Insects, unaffected by poison, and 25……………….. pose a greater threat.
The gravest danger to monarch butterflies is the reduction of their wintering grounds, by deforestation, especially in 26………………….
Monarchs do not migrate long distances within New Zealand, but they gather in large colonies on certain trees. It is possible that the isolation of this country and some other islands in 27……………….. will save monarchs.

Answers for Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers With Explanations

 Lepidoptera reading answers Myths and Misnomers with explanations is given below. Refer to the following answers with an explanation section to correct your errors.

(Note: The text in italics mentions the location and referring lines written in the reading passage.)

14. Answer : true 

Explanation: The passage mentions one theory regarding the origin of the word 'butterfly,' which is that it may refer to a creature with wings the color of butter. Located in second sub section.

15. Answer: true 

Explanation: The passage suggests another theory that the word 'butterfly' might have originated from 'flutterby' and that it was misspelled by an early English scribe.

16. Answer: not given 

Explanation: no such information is located in the passage. 

17. Answer: false 

Explanation: The passage mentions that until recently, people believed that butterflies lived for a single day, but it is now known that this is untrue, with some butterflies like monarchs living for up to nine months. Located in monarch butterfly sub section. 

18. Answer: c

Explanation: The passage describes features that are common to both butterflies and moths, indicating that these characteristics relate to both groups. Located in last section of the passage.

19.Answer: b

Explanation: The passage states that views of moths are less kind, suggesting that humans view them negatively. Located in second sub section. 

20.Answer: A

Explanation: The passage mentions a difference between butterflies and moths in how they fold their wings when resting. Butterflies fold their wings upright, indicating that this characteristic relates to butterflies. Located in first sub section. 

21. Answer: b

Explanation: The passage discusses a difference between butterfly and moth antennae. Butterfly antennae thicken slightly towards their tips, while moth antennae end in something that looks like a V-shaped TV aerial, indicating that this characteristic relates to both butterflies and moths. Located in second subsection. 

22.Answer: g 

Explanation: The passage mentions that monarch butterflies originating in North America are now found throughout the Pacific, including Australia and New Zealand.located in 3rd sub section.

23.Answer: i 

Explanation: The passage discusses the development of a monarch butterfly's exoskeleton and mentions that they undergo seven moults. Located in 3rd sub section in last part. 

24.Answer: f

Explanation: The passage refers to a specific plant called milkweed, which is essential for the survival of monarch butterfly larvae. Located in 3rd sub section.

25.Answer: A 

Explanation: The passage mentions that birds occasionally attack monarch butterflies, but they are relatively safe from most avian predators due to the toxins they absorb from milkweed. Insects and bacteria pose a greater threat to monarch butterflies.Located in 3rd sub section.

26.Answer: e

Explanation: The passage highlights the reduction of wintering conditions for monarch butterflies as a significant danger, especially due to deforestation, and it mentions locations such as Mexico where this is a problem. Located in last sub section.

27.Answer: h

Explanation: The passage mentions that monarch butterflies do not migrate long distances within New Zealand but gather in large colonies on certain trees. It suggests that isolation in certain areas, such as New Zealand, may help save monarch butterflies. Last sub section.

Other Reading Tests

 

Manimegalai Samidurai

About Author Manimegalai Samidurai

Manimegalai is a multifaceted professional, excelling as an author, writer, and study-abroad expert. Her vast knowledge of English proficiency exams, including IELTS, GRE, SAT, and PTE, and exceptional content writing skills make her a go-to resource for students seeking guidance and support in their foreign education journey. She is a trusted authority in writing content related to these test-prep exams, making her an invaluable resource for those seeking guidance. With her well-researched and informative blogs, articles, and study materials, Manimegalai has helped countless students achieve their desired band scores and get admissions to top-notch colleges & universities in countries like Canada, USA, UK, Australia, Ireland, etc. 

More Articles Post by Manimegalai Samidurai

Kanan.co is a trusted study abroad consultancy offering comprehensive services, resources, and solutions for students and education institutions. We support students at every stage of their global education journey, ensuring a smooth and guided experience. Along with test preparation for IELTS, GRE, TOEFL, and SAT, we provide expert services such as SOP writing, visa guidance, accommodation support, scholarship assistance, and education loan support. Our expertise and commitment to excellence make us a reliable partner for students pursuing international education.

kanan-logo1
kanan-ftr-fbkanan-ftr-igkanan-ftr-linkedinkanan-ftr-twitterkanan-ftr-youtube
kanan-ftr-phone1

+91 73555 73555

DMCA.com Protection Status
Mobile app
Mobile app

Global Headquarters

Kanan Int EdTech Inc

320 Bay Street, Suite 321 (Spaces), Toronto ON, Canada M5B 1N9

Indian Headquarters

Kanan International Pvt. Ltd.

D-wing, 2nd Floor, Trident Complex, Ellora Park Vadiwadi Road, Vadodara, Gujarat 390007

IT/ Digital Campus

Kanan International Pvt. Ltd

Old, New No 3, 2nd Floor, 1A, Dr Sadasivam Rd, T. Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600017

Our branches

  • Bardoli
  • Bharuch
  • Chennai
  • Dehradun
  • Gurugram
  • Himatnagar
  • Karnal
  • Nadiad
  • Navsari
  • Palanpur
  • Rajkot
  • Vadodara
  • Valsad
  • Vallabh Vidyanagar
  • Vapi

Copyright © 2026 KANAN.CO All rights reserved.