Lepidopterophobia

Lepidopterophobia is the fear of. It is a fairly uncommon phobia.

People with this phobia experience symptoms of an anxiety attack when confronted with butterflies. In severe cases, they will suffer from the same symptoms when confronted with almost anything butterfly-related, whether it be real or imaginary.

People who suffer from lepidopterophobia often report that they are afraid of their flashing colors and/or their rapid wing-beating when they flutter around. It is also not uncommon for lepidopterophobes to despise or even fear other types of medium to large flying insects and/or birds. Sufferers have also reported that they fear the creeping and irritating feeling when they imagine a butterfly crawling up or brushing against their skin (this has largely been linked to delusory parasitosis, a condition where people who have recently lost a loved one tend to achieve an irritating feeling of insects crawling up their skin, when in reality it is just in the sufferer's minds). Previous psychological trauma closely linked to butterflies may also contribute to their fear.

Related phobias

 * Entomophobia (the fear of insects)
 * Mottephobia (the fear of moths)