Camberwell beauty
The Camberwell beauty is a big butterfly with dark maroon wings and a pale yellow edge, like a dark cloak with a bright hem. In North America it is called the mourning cloak. It is a strong flier and can live for almost a whole year, which is very long for a butterfly.
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Fun facts
It can live 11 to 12 months, one of the longest lives of any butterfly.
Its British name comes from two butterflies found in Camberwell, a part of London, in 1748.
Its caterpillar is black and spiny with a row of eight reddish-orange dots down its back.
Its eggs change colour as they grow, from yellow or olive green to pink and then almost black.
It is the official state insect of Montana in the United States.
Most asked questions about Camberwell beauty
?How long does a Camberwell beauty live?
About 11 to 12 months, much longer than most butterflies.
?Why is it called a mourning cloak?
Its dark wings with a pale edge look like the dark cloak people once wore when someone had died.
?How big is a Camberwell beauty?
Its wings can be up to about 10 centimetres across.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Nymphalis antiopa
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, Europe, Asia
- Also known as
- Mourning cloak, Grand surprise, White petticoat
Where the facts come from
- Nymphalis antiopa (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 Pavel Kirillov from St.Petersburg, Russia. CC BY-SA 2.0, 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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