Chestnut bob
Iambrix salsala
The chestnut bob is a small dark brown butterfly with an olive shine. Underneath, its wings are a warm chestnut colour with tiny white dots. It is a skipper, a kind of butterfly with a stout body and quick flight.
Lives in
South and Southeast Asia, from India and Sri Lanka to Java
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Like other butterflies, the adult sips nectar. Its caterpillars eat grasses, bamboo and mimosa plants.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
Chestnut bob about 30 km/h (19 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
The female has a curved row of small see-through white spots on her front wings.
2
Its spots change a lot from one butterfly to the next. Some have white spots, some reddish ones and some none at all.
3
Long ago, scientists argued whether it was one kind of butterfly or two, because the spots vary so much.
you asked
Most asked questions about Chestnut bob
?Where does the chestnut bob live?
In South and Southeast Asia, from India and Sri Lanka to Malaysia and Java.
?What does a chestnut bob caterpillar eat?
Grasses, bamboo and mimosa plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Iambrix salsala
- Named by
- Moore, 1865
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Hesperiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
- Lives on
- Asia
Where the facts come from
- Iambrix salsala (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 Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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