Species:Papilio Equus, or the "Butterfly Horse".
The "Butterfly Horse" is a very small creature, taking over the title for the World's Smallest Horse. They are only slightly larger than a Monarch butterfly, and are typically very shy, quiet, and secretive. Owners adopting one should know that they can be very difficult to take care of the first month or two, but it progressively gets easier.
Butterfly horses are simply tiny equines with the wings of an insect, depending on their subspecies. They can be found in all natural equine colors and markings, but are also found in neon colors; whatever you can dream up, that color can probably be a possibility given the right genetics. Colors do depend on their subspecies as well; some pure bloodlines will not have certain colors.
"Butterfly Horse" is actually a very focused term for these creatures, but there are different subspecies of them. The species keeps the name Papilio Equus as the Butterfly subspecies is the most common. The subspecies include:
.The most common, the Papilio Equus, the "Butterfly Horse". They are widely common, and can be found in any color combination you can imagine, often patterned. They are well noted for their bright coats and flashy wings.
.Anisoptera Equus, or the "Dragonfly Horse"; these all generally are the same size except for a rare few who are much tinier. They are usually found in cool colors (blues, greens, purples, etc.) but can be found in all colors of the spectrum. The rarest colors are black and white. It is most commonly found in tropical, subtropical, or temperate areas near to any body of water.
.Coleoptera Equus, or the "Firefly Horse"; the Firefly Horses are all the same size, there are no variations (8.00 cm). They are commonly found in dark colors, but can be any color naturally found in horses. Being from a jungle where camouflage is key, no neon colors are found in this subspecies, and any "patterned" coats (paints, sabino, splashes, etc.) are rare. It's commonly found in most temperate or sub-tropical forests. All of them have a bioluminescent snowcap appaloosa marking on their rumps, including their tails. The light is most commonly found in yellow, but can be found in red and orange as well. Very rarely it can be found in an aqua blue color, but it's only been recorded in about 1 in every 500,000 fireflies.
.Cicadidae Equus, or the "Song Horse"; named for the Cicada-like melodic neigh it gives. The base color of the Song Horse is always black, but they can have markings and wings of any type and color. It is very uncommon except in certain areas.
.Lepidoptera Equus, or the "Snow Horse", named for the light dust that sometimes falls from it's wings and onto it's surroundings. The Snow Horse's base coat can be any pastel color, most commonly white or grey, but it can have neon or natural colors as markings and as part of it's wing colors. It is the rarest subspecies.
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These small creatures mostly eat leaves, grasses, and fruits, but can benefit every now and then from a few pieces of shredded carrots. But remember, they are small, so their food needs to be prepared accordingly.
Breeding them is extremely difficult because not much in known about their reproductive cycles, but it is known that they do lay eggs and have a larval stage, much like a normal insect. Then they undergo metamorphasis, turning into the adult you see. But unlike most insects, the insect horses have very long lifespans; they can live upwards of 7-10 years. Why this anomaly is present we are unsure, but we believe they live this long because there is only a 30% chance of the young larvae surviving. Mares only lay 5 tiny eggs every breeding season (late spring-mid summer), and only one egg may survive, sometimes none.
Small pets like this need a clean, neat environment so they do not get hurt, They enjoy freedom, so after the first month they will have attached to you and can be allowed to come out of their cage and explore. They are very cautious, so they will most likely not explore any extremely dark or dangerous areas for fear of predators. They do much better with single owners or couples without young children. Older children will do fine as long as they understand about these pets, and know how to properly care for them. They really want nothing more than to either rest somewhere on your person or fly alongside you, as long as they're near to you.
