Nicole Kidman recently revealed her greatest fear - butterflies. It seems Kidman experienced a serious Lepidopteran trauma in her childhood. On school days, she would arrive home to find a threatening butterfly perched on her gate, preventing her from entering the yard. The Oscar winner harbors a serious phobia, which she once tried (and failed) to overcome by walking through the butterfly exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History.

Getty Images/Stephen Lovekin

Fear of butterflies is, to say the least, an unusual phobia. Since you are probably not prone to blood-curdling screams at the sight of these flying flowers, you might be interested in learning a thing or two about them. My newest article, The Six Butterfly Families, describes the major groups of butterflies and provides some advice on how to start identifying the butterflies you see.

More About Butterflies:

• Butterflies vs. Moths
• Painted Lady
• Silver-Spotted Skipper
• Monarch Butterfly
• Black Swallowtail
• 12 Perennials That Butterflies Love

When Stephen Colbert, popular host of Comedy Central's Colbert Report, heard that a spider had been named for Neil Young, he knew he had to act. It seemed only fair that he should also be immortalized as a spider.

Photo: © Getty Images for Meet the Press/Alex Wong.

Jason Bond, the East Carolina University professor who named the new trapdoor spider species for his favorite singer/songwriter, assured Colbert that there are plenty of spiders to go around. In fact, Bond discovered 27 additional spider species that still need names. Colbert will review Bond's descriptions of the unnamed species, and choose the one he deems worthy of the name Aptostichus stephencolberti.