Editing Lepidoptera (section)

=== Culture ===

[[File:Acherontia lachesis MHNT Female Nîlgîri (Tamil Nadu) Dorsal.jpg|thumb|left|[[Death's-head hawkmoth]] (''Acherontia lachesis''), an old bleached specimen still showing the classical skull pattern on the thorax]]

Artistic depictions of butterflies have been used in many cultures including as early as 3500 years ago, in Egyptian hieroglyphs.<ref>{{Cite journal |last= Larsen |first= Torben B. |year= 1994 |title= Butterflies of Egypt |journal= [[Saudi Aramco World]] |volume= 45 |issue= 5 |pages= 24–27 |url= http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199405/butterflies.of.egypt.htm |access-date= 18 December 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100113084254/http://saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199405/butterflies.of.egypt.htm |archive-date= 13 January 2010 |url-status= dead }}</ref> Today, butterflies are widely used in various objects of art and jewelry: mounted in frames, embedded in resin, displayed in bottles, laminated in paper, and in some mixed media artworks and furnishings.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mfjoe.com/tag/furniture/ |title=Table complete with real butterflies embedded in resin |publisher=Mfjoe.com |date=18 December 2009 |access-date=28 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100506094545/http://mfjoe.com/tag/furniture/ |archive-date=6 May 2010}}</ref> Butterflies have also inspired the "[[fairy|butterfly fairy]]" as an art and fictional character.

In many cultures the soul of a dead person is associated with the butterfly, for example in [[Ancient Greece]], where the word for butterfly [[wikt:ψυχή|ψυχή]] (psyche) also means ''[[soul]]'' and ''[[breath]]''. In [[Latin]], as in Ancient Greece, the word for "butterfly" [[wikt:Papilio|papilio]] was associated with the soul of the dead.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.insects.org/ced4/etymology.html |title= Butterfly Etymology |work= [[Cultural Entomology Digest]] 4 |first= Matthew |last= Rabuzzi |date= November 1997 |publisher= Bugbios |location= Cupertino, California |page= 4 |access-date= 18 December 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/19981203024144/http://www.insects.org/ced4/etymology.html |archive-date= 3 December 1998 |url-status= dead }}</ref> The skull-like marking on the thorax of the [[death's-head hawkmoth]] has helped these moths, particularly ''A. atropos'', earn a negative reputation, such as associations with the supernatural and evil. The moth has been prominently featured in art and movies such as ''{{lang|fr|[[Un Chien Andalou]]}}'' (by [[Luis Buñuel|Buñuel]] and [[Dalí]]) and ''[[The Silence of the Lambs (film)|The Silence of the Lambs]]'', and in the artwork of the Japanese metal band [[Sigh (band)|Sigh]]'s album ''[[Hail Horror Hail]]''. According to ''[[Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things]]'', by [[Lafcadio Hearn]], a butterfly was seen in Japan as the [[personification]] of a person's soul; whether they be living, dying, or already dead. One Japanese superstition says that if a butterfly enters your guestroom and perches behind the [[bamboo]] screen, the person whom you most love is coming to see you. However, large numbers of butterflies are viewed as bad [[omen]]s. When [[Taira no Masakado]] was secretly preparing for his famous revolt, there appeared in [[Kyoto]] so vast a swarm of butterflies that the people were frightened—thinking the apparition to be a portent of coming evil.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hearn | first = Lafcadio | author-link = Lafcadio Hearn | year = 1904 | title = Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Thing | publisher = Dover Publications, Inc. | isbn = 978-0-486-21901-1}}</ref>

In the ancient [[Mesoamerica]]n city of [[Teotihuacan]], the brilliantly colored image of the butterfly was carved into many temples, buildings, jewelry, and emblazoned on [[Censer|incense burners]] in particular. The butterfly was sometimes depicted with the maw of a [[jaguar]] and some species were considered to be the reincarnations of the souls of dead warriors. The close association of butterflies to [[fire]] and warfare persisted through to the [[Aztec civilization]] and evidence of similar jaguar-butterfly images has been found among the [[Zapotec civilization|Zapotec]], and [[Maya civilization]]s.<ref>{{cite book| last=Miller| first=Mary| title=The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya.| year=1993| publisher=Thames & Hudson| isbn=978-0-500-27928-1| url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780500279281}}</ref>