Age-old question: Could the longevity of butterflies be down to diet?

Some butterfly species there are impressively long-lived. They seem to remain young almost forever and show no obvious signs of physical decline as they get older. But how do they manage to do this?

Some butterflies are migrant species, which head back south in the autumn. One of them is the painted lady.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, old time is still a-flying – Robert Herrick

William Hogarth’s ‘The Mackinnon Children’ hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland. A boy is shown reaching out to a butterfly, which is rising from a sunflower while his sister looks on. Tempus fugit; the butterfly sun-flower and children, here today, will alas all be gone tomorrow. Carpe diem!