Blue pansy
The blue pansy is a pretty butterfly with velvety black and bright blue wings and round eye spots ringed in orange. The males are the blue ones, while the females are mostly brown. It likes sunny, open places and often sits right on bare ground.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It is the official state butterfly of Jammu and Kashmir in India.
The eye spots on its wings may help to scare or confuse hungry birds.
A male guards his own little patch and chases away other butterflies that fly in.
It flies in a special way: a few stiff flaps and then a long glide.
Its caterpillar is shiny black with lots of spines and a little orange on its neck and tail.
Most asked questions about Blue pansy
?Why is it called the blue pansy?
Because the males have bright blue patches on their back wings. In some countries it has other names, like eyed pansy or blue argus.
?Where does the blue pansy live?
In Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Australia.
?What do blue pansy caterpillars eat?
Many plants, including snapdragons, violets and sweet potato leaves.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Junonia orithya
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Eyed pansy, Blue argus
Where the facts come from
- Junonia orithya (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 Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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