Taqralikisaq — Butterfly
Miqqulingiaq — Caterpillar

Several species of butterflies live in the Arctic. However, Inuit there do not have different names for the various types, but distinguish them by their colours as "yellow butterflies", "brown butterflies", etc.

Miqqulingiaq, "the little furry one", serves to describe any kind of hairy caterpillar. The Inuit are aware of the transformations from caterpillar to pupa, to butterfly that occur during the life of this insect. In fact, the butterfly is sometimes called miqqulingiaviniq, "that which was a caterpillar".

While the Inuit do not mind butterflies, they dislike caterpillars. The caterpillar is often associated with a legendary blood-sucking, caterpillar-worm creature. A woman who was unable to have children adopted a caterpillar, which she fed by allowing it to suck her blood. The creature sucked her blood daily, sometimes making her so faint that she had to go to visit her neighbours to recover. But the larva never stopped growing and, fearing that the woman would die of blood loss, the neighbours threw it to the dogs. The hungry dogs tore up the larva, which splattered blood everywhere.

With such tales to refer to, it is not surprising that the Inuit do not like caterpillars!