California sister
The California sister is a butterfly with dark wings, wide creamy white bands and two bright orange patches near the wing tips. Underneath, its wings are painted with brown, blue, orange and white. Birds leave it alone, because it tastes bad.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Because it tastes bad, several other butterflies have come to look like it, so birds leave them alone too.
Growing from an egg into a butterfly takes about 65 days.
The mum lays green eggs one at a time on the tips of oak leaves.
The caterpillar rests with its front arched and its back end lifted up.
Its pupa is pale brown or golden with shiny metallic gold patches.
Most asked questions about California sister
?Why is it called the California sister?
Its black and white wing markings look like the clothes of a nun, who is also called a sister.
?What does a California sister caterpillar eat?
Oak leaves, mostly from canyon live oak and coast live oak.
?Where can I see a California sister?
In oak woods in California and nearby areas, often flying near the tops of oak trees or near small streams.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Adelpha californica
- Named by
- Butler, 1865
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Adelpha californica (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 Joe Littlejohn. CC0, 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 [email protected] and we will fix it.
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