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Sticker of Double-spotted line blue
Bug card No. 1406 of 4,939

Double-spotted line blue

Nacaduba biocellata
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesGardens and meadows6 legs

The double-spotted line blue is a small butterfly from Australia and nearby islands. The male is blue on top with thin black edges, and the female is brown. Underneath, both are pale brown with light and dark wavy lines.

Lives in
Australia, and also Singapore, Bali, Sumba and Vanuatu
Wingspan
2 cm (0.79 in)
Top speed
about 8.7 km/h (5.4 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Butterflies cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The butterflies drink sweet nectar like other butterflies. The caterpillars eat the young shoots, flowers and buds of wattle trees, also called acacias.
For real!Photo of Double-spotted line blue
Picture by Sarah McCaffrey, Museum Victoria. CC BY 3.0 au, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Double-spotted line blue wings about 2 cm tip to tip (0.79 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
wings as wide as 3 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 43 seconds

How big is Double-spotted line blue compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

With its wings open it is only about 2 centimetres across.

2

Its caterpillars can be pink, orange, yellow or green, depending on which plant they eat.

3

Ants look after its caterpillars, staying close by them on the plant.

4

It turns into a butterfly inside a pale brown pupa.

you asked

Most asked questions about Double-spotted line blue

?What does the double-spotted line blue eat?

Its caterpillars eat the shoots, flowers and buds of wattle trees. The butterflies drink nectar.

?How big is the double-spotted line blue?

Its open wings are only about 2 centimetres across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Nacaduba biocellata
Group
Butterflies
Family
Lycaenidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Nacaduba biocellata (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 Sarah McCaffrey, Museum Victoria. CC BY 3.0 au, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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