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Sticker of Large copper
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Large copper

Lycaena dispar
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesPonds, rivers and shores6 legs

The large copper is a butterfly that shines like a new copper coin. The males have bright orange wings with thin black edges. Underneath, its back wings are silvery blue with black spots and an orange band.

Lives in
Across Europe and Asia from western Europe to Korea, in wet meadows and marshes
Wingspan
4.4 to 5.2 cm (1.7 to 2 in)
Top speed
about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a gentle butterfly that cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-up butterflies drink nectar from flowers. In the Netherlands its caterpillars eat almost only one plant, the great water dock.
For real!Photo of Large copper
Picture by Сергей Неклюдов. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Large copper wings about 5.2 cm tip to tip (2 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 1.5 toy building brickscould fly across a whole football pitch in 27 seconds

How big is Large copper compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Males and females look different. The females have wide dark brown edges and a row of dark spots on their front wings.

2

It used to live in England, but it died out there in 1864.

3

It is disappearing in north-western Europe because many wet meadows were drained, but in central and eastern Europe it is spreading.

4

In some places it has two families of butterflies a year, and in others only one.

you asked

Most asked questions about Large copper

?Does the large copper live in Estonia?

Yes. It is found in many European countries, including Estonia, Latvia and Finland.

?Why is the large copper rare?

Its wet meadow and marsh homes have been drained in many places, so it has lost places to live.

?How big is the large copper?

Its wings measure about 4.4 to 5.2 centimetres from tip to tip.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Lycaena dispar
Named by
Haworth, 1802
Group
Butterflies
Family
Lycaenidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Large copper (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Сергей Неклюдов. CC BY 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.

More from the same group: Butterflies

Also at home here: Ponds, rivers and shores