Danaid eggfly
The danaid eggfly is a butterfly that is a master of disguise. The male is velvety black with big white spots that shine blue at the edges. The females come in many forms, and some look just like the bad tasting plain tiger butterfly.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Birds leave the females alone, because they look like a poisonous butterfly.
The blue edges of the male's spots can only be seen from some angles.
It appears in big numbers just after rain, and is hard to find in dry weather.
Males are very busy in the late afternoon after a rain shower.
Most asked questions about Danaid eggfly
?Why is it called the mimic?
Because the females copy the look of butterflies that taste bad to birds.
?Where does the danaid eggfly live?
In Africa, Asia, Australia and the West Indies.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hypolimnas misippus
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, North America
- Also known as
- Mimic, Diadem
Where the facts come from
- Hypolimnas misippus (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 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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