Atala butterfly
The atala is a small butterfly with very dark wings, shiny blue spots and a bright orange-red body. Its caterpillars are bright red with yellow spots. All those bright colours are a warning: do not eat me, I taste bad.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The caterpillars take poison from the coontie plant into their bodies and keep it for life, even as butterflies.
Birds and lizards that try to eat one quickly learn to stay away from these bright colours.
It flies slowly, unlike its fast and zigzagging cousins.
People thought it had disappeared from Florida, but in 1979 a group was found again. Now it is common there once more.
The mother lays her eggs in groups of 10 to 50 on the tips of the leaves.
Most asked questions about Atala butterfly
?Is the atala butterfly poisonous?
It is poisonous to eat, which protects it from birds. It is safe to look at and does not hurt people.
?What do atala caterpillars eat?
They eat the leaves of coontie, a palm-like plant, and sometimes other similar plants.
?Where does the atala butterfly live?
In south-east Florida and on islands like Cuba and the Bahamas.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eumaeus atala
- Named by
- Poey
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Coontie hairstreak
Where the facts come from
- Eumaeus atala (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Patrick Coin ( Patrick Coin ). CC BY-SA 2.5, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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