World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises the large superfamily Papilionoidea, which contains at least one former group, the skippers, and the most recent analyses suggest it also contains the moth-butterflies. Butterfly fossils date to the Paleocene, which was about 56 million years ago.
Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 per cent of the total described species of living organisms. It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world. The Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest the order may have more species than earlier thought, and is among the four most speciose orders, along with the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera.
Prunus spinosa, called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, western Asia, and locally in northwest Africa. It is also locally naturalised in New Zealand, Tasmania and eastern North America.
Norman Barnett Tindale AO was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist.
Rev William Jacob Holland FRSE LLD was the eighth Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh (1891–1901) and Director of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. He was an accomplished zoologist and paleontologist, as well as an ordained Presbyterian minister.
The Insect-class gunboats were a class of small, but well-armed Royal Navy ships designed for use in shallow rivers or inshore. They were intended for use on the Danube against Austria-Hungary. The first four ships—Gnat, Mantis, Moth and Tarantula—were first employed during the World War I Mesopotamian Campaign on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.
The de Havilland DH.60 Moth is a 1920s British two-seat touring and training aircraft that was developed into a series of aircraft by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.
The DH.83 Fox Moth was a successful small biplane passenger aircraft from the 1930s powered by a single de Havilland Gipsy Major I inline inverted engine, manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company.
The Japanese house bat or Japanese pipistrelle is a species of vesper bat. An adult has a body length of 3.6–4.8 cm (1.4–1.9 in), a tail of 2.9–4.0 cm (1.1–1.6 in), and a wing length of 3.2–3.6 cm (1.3–1.4 in). It prefers to roost under the ceiling or inside the roof of old buildings. It is found across East Asia, from China and Taiwan into the Ussuri region, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan.
Acleris variegana, the garden rose tortricid moth or fruit tortricid, is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It has a Palaearctic distribution. The moth flies from July to September mainly at night and is attracted to bright lights. The larvae feed on various trees and shrubs including rose and apple.
Udea ferrugalis, the rusty dot pearl, is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1796.
HMS Moth was an Insect-class gunboat of the Royal Navy. Entering service in 1916, Moth had a varied career with service in the Middle East, the White Sea and the Far East in two world wars. Scuttled in World War II during the invasion of Hong Kong, the ship was raised and put into service by the Imperial Japanese Navy as Suma (須磨). The ship remained active throughout the war, before striking a naval mine in the Yangtze River in 1945 and sinking.
The azalea leaf miner is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is endemic to Japan, but has been introduced worldwide, wherever there are Azaleas.
Aethes triangulana is a moth of the family Tortricidae. It was described by Treitschke in 1835. It is found from most of Europe to Central Asia, the Amur region, China and Japan.
Amblyptilia punctidactyla is a moth of the family Pterophoridae that can be found from Europe to Japan.
Buckleria paludum, the European sundew moth, is a moth of the family Pterophoridae. It has a wide range in the Palearctic and Oriental region and is found from Europe to Japan, as well as India and Sri Lanka.
Hellinsia distinctus is a moth of the family Pterophoridae that is found from Europe to India, Korea, Japan, China and Russia. Within Europe, it is found from Germany and the Benelux east to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, from Italy north to Fennoscandia, and in Greece, Estonia, Latvia and northern and central Russia.
Patania balteata is a moth of the family Crambidae. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1798. It is found across southern Europe, Africa and Asia, including Japan, Korea, Réunion, Madagascar, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine, as well as New South Wales and Queensland in Australia. There is also an old record from Hawaii.
