Collectibles and Collecting: Butterflies
The Sims 3 Ambitions Walkthrough and Guide
by CMBF 
Collectibles and Collecting: Butterflies
First introduced in The Sims 2, Bug Collecting in The Sims 3 is split into two distinct disciplines: Beetles and Butterflies, and each includes specific types of varying rarity and value, giving the active collecting Sim a great challenge. The following Butterflies can be collected in the game:
 Butterflies make unique pets |
Bamboo Straight Swift Butterfly (Common) $20 (China)
Cleopatra Butterfly (Extraordinarily Unusual) $1200 (Egypt)
Crypt Moth (Uncommon) $65 (Egypt)
Glow Fly (Extraordinarily Unusual) $1500 (France)
Green Swallowtail Butterfly (Uncommon) $100 (Your Town)
Mission Blue Butterfly (Uncommon) $55 (Your Town)
Monarch Butterfly (Common) $10 (Your Town)
Moth (Common) $5 (Your Town)
Rainbow Butterfly (Extraordinarily Unusual) $1400 (Your Town)
Red Admiral Butterfly (Common) $35 (Your Town)
Royal Purple Butterfly (Uncommon) $150 (Your Town)
Silver-Spotted Skipper Butterfly (Rare) $400 (Your Town)
Two-Tailed Pasha Butterfly (Uncommon) $110 (France)
Yellow Band Dart Butterfly (Rare) $430 (China)
Zebra Butterfly (Rare) $791 (Your Town)
Zephyr Metalmark Butterfly (Common) $25 (Your Town)
Note: While you can sell the Butterflies you collect, if you drag one of them outside of your inventory in your house you automatically place them in a glass home that is certainly suitable for display and as it requires no ongoing effort or maintenance on the part of your Sims (the "pet" bugs do not have to be fed or watered or anything) it is certainly a great way to remember and show off the rarer of the captures you make!
That wraps up the collectible items that apply to the Collection Helper -- Relics are an item that you find when traveling to foreign lands and exploring tombs. For information about those, check out the World Adventures Guide on SuperCheats...
Where are moths - I found nearly all of the butterflies, even the uncommon, rare and some extraordinarily uncommon ones, but the silly common moth (found almost everywhere, from what I read on different pages, of course without being specific about the exact location or time of day) still eludes me.