Pied flat
The pied flat is a skipper, a small, quick butterfly. It is sooty brown on top, and underneath its back wings are greyish white. It likes to rest flat under leaves in the shade of big trees.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
The caterpillar builds itself a little tent. It cuts a flap in the edge of a leaf, folds it over and ties it down with silk.
It hides in its tent all day and only comes out at night to eat.
After about 23 days the caterpillar turns into a pupa inside its tent, and 10 days later the butterfly comes out.
It flies fast and low, usually under big trees, and often rests on the underside of leaves.
You can see it all year round, but there are the most of them in the wet season.
Most asked questions about Pied flat
?What does the pied flat eat?
The butterfly drinks flower nectar. The caterpillar eats the leaves of yam vines.
?Where does the pied flat live?
From India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to New Guinea and northeastern Australia.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tagiades japetus
- Named by
- Stoll, 1782
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Hesperiidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Hesperiidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Common snow flat
Where the facts come from
- Tagiades japetus (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 Uajith. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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