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The animals on the cover of Oracle PL/SQL for DBAs are butterflies. Moths and butterflies comprise a very large group called Lepidoptera , or "scaly-winged" insects . An estimated 150,000 different species are included in this groupmore than any other type of insect except beetles. Although most species of butterflies are found in tropical areas such as rainforests, they inhabit almost all types of environments throughout the world. The butterfly 's only climate demand is adequate heat since it must maintain a body temperature of 86 degrees in order to fly. To solve this problem, some butterflies are not butterflies in the winter, but pupa. Other species hibernate in tree trunks or migrate south. The monarch, for example, has been known to migrate as far as 2,000 miles in the fall, flying from Canada to central Mexico.

The butterflies appearing on this cover are members of the family Pieridae , of which there are about 60 species in North America and more than 1,000 species worldwide. Butterflies of this family are characterized by their medium size , forked claws, and full- sized forelegs. Many also exhibit sexual dimorphism and have wings that reflect and absorb ultraviolet light in specific patterns, helping them to identify potential mates of the same species.

The lifespan of the butterfly ranges from one week to nine months, with most species living an average of one month. As a butterfly ages, its colors fade and its wings become ragged. Yet it is rare to find geriatric butterflies in the wild, as predators, disease, and automobiles generally get the better of them before too long. Butterfly defense mechanisms include camouflage, flight of up to 30 miles per hour , and, as a last resort, being a terrible dinner. Some butterflies are poisonous to eat and cause their predators to vomit, protecting their speciesand other species that look like themfrom a similar fate.

Darren Kelly was the production editor, and Asa Tomash was the copyeditor for Oracle PL/SQL for DBAs . Cindy Gierhart proofread the book. Adam Witwer and Colleen Gorman provided quality control. Lucie Haskins wrote the index.

Karen Montgomery designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from Cassell's Natural History. Karen Montgomery produced the cover layout with Adobe InDesign CS using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted by Andrew Savikas to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano, Jessamyn Read, and Lesley Borash using Macromedia FreeHand MX and Adobe Photoshop CS. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Lydia Onofrei.