Cardinal butterfly
The cardinal is a big, fast butterfly with orange wings covered in black spots. Underneath, its wings are a surprise: bright green with a rosy red patch. It loves to sip from thistle flowers on sunny summer days.
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Fun facts
It is the biggest of its kind of orange spotted butterfly in Europe.
In Switzerland it has been found high up in the mountains, at 2600 metres.
Its flight is fast and smooth, a bit like it is swimming through the air.
It likes to rest on tree branches that hang over a road.
Its caterpillar is purple brown and spiky, with a velvety black spot and two white dashes on every part of its back.
Most asked questions about Cardinal butterfly
?How big is a cardinal butterfly?
Its wings measure about 6 to 8 centimetres from tip to tip.
?What does a cardinal butterfly eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar from flowers like thistles, and the caterpillar eats violet leaves.
?When can I see a cardinal butterfly?
In Europe it usually flies from May to August.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Argynnis pandora
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
- Also known as
- Cardinal
Where the facts come from
- Argynnis pandora (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 unknown author. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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