Butterfly Evolution or Creation?
by Owen Omid Borville
May 18, 2019
Biology
The metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly is one of the most unique phenomena in the natural world and is a clear illustration of the unique design of an all-powerful Creator. The unique and colorful designs of the relatively large, scaled wings of the butterfly also are a testament to the brilliance of the Creator. Butterflies are insects that are classified into the Order Lepidoptera, which also includes the moths. As all insects have, butterflies have six jointed legs, three body parts, a pair of antennae, compound eyes, and an exoskeleton. The three body parts are the head, thorax (the chest), and abdomen (the tail end).
Butterflies are a product of a life-cycle that involves four stages, the first of which occurs when butterflies lay their eggs onto a certain plant species. The eggs open into what are known as larvae, specifically the caterpillar, which feeds heavily on plant food or other insects while growing rapidly. The larvae or caterpillar gradually matures into a pupa stage during a period of metamorphosis where the insect is fully covered by a layer of skin and the whole pupa hangs from a plant stem. Afterward the transformation into a winged-butterfly occurs and the transformed insect breaks out of the pupa skin and emerges with its new wings.
The butterfly undergoes the unique transition from eating plant material as a larvae to eating nectar as a transitioned butterfly, in addition to suddenly knowing how to extract nectar from flowers. Different butterflies like different types of leaves and therefore the butterfly must know which type of leaf to lay its eggs on. If the egg is laid on the wrong type of leaf, the hatched egg larvae will die of starvation. Therefore, the butterfly must have a unique sense to select the right type of leaf to lay her eggs.
Evolutionists claim that moths first appeared in the fossil record some 190 million years ago and that butterflies are a more recent evolutionary product of moths that first appeared 50 million years ago, despite the fossil representatives looking strikingly similar to modern examples. Moths and butterflies "suddenly appear" in the fossil record according to evolutionists because stratigraphic layers are incorrectly interpreted as some time scale record beginning over 500 million years ago and new layers forming during many millions of years. Creationists believe that the strata layers that we observe, particularly the strata with fossils was produced during a year-long catastrophic flood that occurred about 4,500 to 5,000 years ago and all of the fossils observed in these layers were rapidly buried during this year-long event.
While butterflies commonly fly and are active during the day, moths are primarily active at night, which is another surprisingly unique feature two living species that are closely related. Could it be that each was uniquely designed for a specific purpose and not the product of millions of years of evolution? What would make moths, which usually are active at night to gradually evolve into butterflies and become day dwellers? If butterflies are supposedly the more "evolved" species from moths, why do butterflies have bright and unique color patterns on their wings while moths are commonly dull-colored and camouflaged with their environment? If camouflage is an evolved characteristic, why did butterflies lose this?
In addition to their bright colored, scaled wings, butterflies also migrate long distances up to thousands of miles. This process is done through many generations of butterflies, as a single butterfly can live to a maximum of 12 months. How do they know where to go? Only a unique creator could design a species with such ability, in contrast to millions of years of random evolution by chance, as the evolutionists propose.
Could It Be? Some have explained that the butterfly life cycle represents the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the butterfly has two separate lives, one after hatching out of the egg as a caterpillar larvae and later emerging out of the pupa as a fully matured butterfly with magnificent wings. Could the larvae represent life on Earth and the butterfly symbolize the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven for all of mankind, the righteous followers of God? For many the butterfly life cycle is a unique and symbolic representation of the Resurrection and the Kingdom of Heaven by a unique and powerful Creator when all of the righteous, chosen followers of God obtain their wings. Even non-Christian cultures from around the world have used the life cycle of the butterfly to symbolize the unique events that make life meaningful.
by Owen Omid Borville
May 18, 2019
Biology
The metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly is one of the most unique phenomena in the natural world and is a clear illustration of the unique design of an all-powerful Creator. The unique and colorful designs of the relatively large, scaled wings of the butterfly also are a testament to the brilliance of the Creator. Butterflies are insects that are classified into the Order Lepidoptera, which also includes the moths. As all insects have, butterflies have six jointed legs, three body parts, a pair of antennae, compound eyes, and an exoskeleton. The three body parts are the head, thorax (the chest), and abdomen (the tail end).
Butterflies are a product of a life-cycle that involves four stages, the first of which occurs when butterflies lay their eggs onto a certain plant species. The eggs open into what are known as larvae, specifically the caterpillar, which feeds heavily on plant food or other insects while growing rapidly. The larvae or caterpillar gradually matures into a pupa stage during a period of metamorphosis where the insect is fully covered by a layer of skin and the whole pupa hangs from a plant stem. Afterward the transformation into a winged-butterfly occurs and the transformed insect breaks out of the pupa skin and emerges with its new wings.
The butterfly undergoes the unique transition from eating plant material as a larvae to eating nectar as a transitioned butterfly, in addition to suddenly knowing how to extract nectar from flowers. Different butterflies like different types of leaves and therefore the butterfly must know which type of leaf to lay its eggs on. If the egg is laid on the wrong type of leaf, the hatched egg larvae will die of starvation. Therefore, the butterfly must have a unique sense to select the right type of leaf to lay her eggs.
Evolutionists claim that moths first appeared in the fossil record some 190 million years ago and that butterflies are a more recent evolutionary product of moths that first appeared 50 million years ago, despite the fossil representatives looking strikingly similar to modern examples. Moths and butterflies "suddenly appear" in the fossil record according to evolutionists because stratigraphic layers are incorrectly interpreted as some time scale record beginning over 500 million years ago and new layers forming during many millions of years. Creationists believe that the strata layers that we observe, particularly the strata with fossils was produced during a year-long catastrophic flood that occurred about 4,500 to 5,000 years ago and all of the fossils observed in these layers were rapidly buried during this year-long event.
While butterflies commonly fly and are active during the day, moths are primarily active at night, which is another surprisingly unique feature two living species that are closely related. Could it be that each was uniquely designed for a specific purpose and not the product of millions of years of evolution? What would make moths, which usually are active at night to gradually evolve into butterflies and become day dwellers? If butterflies are supposedly the more "evolved" species from moths, why do butterflies have bright and unique color patterns on their wings while moths are commonly dull-colored and camouflaged with their environment? If camouflage is an evolved characteristic, why did butterflies lose this?
In addition to their bright colored, scaled wings, butterflies also migrate long distances up to thousands of miles. This process is done through many generations of butterflies, as a single butterfly can live to a maximum of 12 months. How do they know where to go? Only a unique creator could design a species with such ability, in contrast to millions of years of random evolution by chance, as the evolutionists propose.
Could It Be? Some have explained that the butterfly life cycle represents the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the butterfly has two separate lives, one after hatching out of the egg as a caterpillar larvae and later emerging out of the pupa as a fully matured butterfly with magnificent wings. Could the larvae represent life on Earth and the butterfly symbolize the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven for all of mankind, the righteous followers of God? For many the butterfly life cycle is a unique and symbolic representation of the Resurrection and the Kingdom of Heaven by a unique and powerful Creator when all of the righteous, chosen followers of God obtain their wings. Even non-Christian cultures from around the world have used the life cycle of the butterfly to symbolize the unique events that make life meaningful.
