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Sticker of Obrinus olivewing
Bug card No. 3089 of 4,939

Obrinus olivewing

Nessaea obrinus
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The obrinus olivewing is a butterfly from the Amazon and nearby lands of South America. It has a real blue colour in its body. That is very rare, because most blue animals only look blue thanks to a trick of the light.

Lives in
From Colombia and the Guianas through the Amazon to Bolivia, Brazil and northern Argentina, in rainforests
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Like other butterflies, it drinks sweet liquids through a long tongue that works like a straw.
For real!Photo of Obrinus olivewing
Picture by Notafly. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its blue comes from a special colour called pterobilin.

2

Each of its wings is about 2.5 to 4 centimetres long. Females are a tiny bit bigger.

3

In some places you can see it flying all year round.

4

There are three kinds of it, living in different parts of South America.

you asked

Most asked questions about Obrinus olivewing

?Why is the obrinus olivewing special?

It is one of the few animals with real blue colouring, instead of blue made by light bouncing off its wings.

?Where does the obrinus olivewing live?

In South America, from Colombia and the Amazon down to northern Argentina.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Nessaea obrinus
Group
Butterflies
Family
Nymphalidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
Lives on
South America
Also known as
Obrina olivewing

Where the facts come from

  1. Nessaea obrinus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Notafly. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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Also at home here: Rainforests and jungles

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