Somebody overthinking things, IMO. And the wings are momentarily in the "dead butterfly" position during flight.

I believe an article on "dead moths" would be more appropriate because with a majority of moths, you cannot see the hindwings while the moth is at rest. But she is not going to draw an underwing moth at rest since almost nobody would be interested in it.

Would a Picasso drawing of a butterfly look more dead or alive?

Now I'm overthinking this stuff. :D Author mentions how butterflies "typically" hold their wings. Well, they "typically" have them folded vertically above their bodies the majority of the time but she does not seem to illustrate those. She illustrates the minority of the time when they are sunning themselves. And this position is even less common in butterflies found in tropical areas because it is hot enough that they don't use the sun. I think the most common example you can find in the US is the blue morphos in butterfly exhibits. I've spent a lot of time trying to catch a shot of one with its wings horizontal.

Note that Audubon drew his pictures using dead birds suspended by wires.

My neighbor is a biologist and raises butterflies with much care. But, he also has a collection of butterflies in glass cases pinned. I have no doubt he kills any which he feels are of interest. He releases any that are not unusual.

It initially pissed me off, but now I just ignore it He's very proud of his large butterfly, moth collection.

Jane