the legs of a butterfly are made for walking, holding onto things, and tasting. there are three pairs of legs. there are four main parts of the leg. they are the trochanter, the femur, the tibia, and the foot. at the end of each foot, there is a pair of claws. butterflies in the family nymphalidae have very short front legs. they keep there front legs close to their bodies. this makes it look like they only have two pairs of legs. in some species, there is a movable body part on the tibia that is used to clean the antennae.