Chequered blue
Scolitantides orion
The chequered blue is a small dark butterfly with a blue shine. Underneath, its wings are white with lots of black spots, like a chequered cloth, and an orange band. It lives in rocky, sunny places.
Lives in
Europe and across Asia to Japan, in rocky places
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Like other butterflies, the adult drinks nectar. Its caterpillars eat stonecrop plants.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Chequered blue about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its caterpillars eat stonecrops, small plants with thick, juicy leaves that grow on rocks.
2
Ants often guard its caterpillars.
3
It is named after Orion, a hunter from old Greek stories who was turned into stars in the sky.
4
In Norway it is very rare. Only about 50 live there in the wild.
you asked
Most asked questions about Chequered blue
?What does the chequered blue caterpillar eat?
Stonecrops, small plants with thick leaves that grow in rocky places.
?Where does the chequered blue live?
In Europe and across Asia, in sunny rocky places with stonecrops.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scolitantides orion
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Scolitantides orion (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 unknown author. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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