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Sticker of Southern gatekeeper
Bug card No. 4015 of 4,939

Southern gatekeeper

Pyronia cecilia
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesDeserts and dry places6 legs

The southern gatekeeper is a butterfly that loves hot, sunny places. It lives around the Mediterranean Sea. It looks a lot like its cousin the gatekeeper, which lives further north.

Lives in
Southern Europe, North Africa and Turkey, in rough, open, sunny places
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?
Adults sip nectar from flowers. Its caterpillars eat grasses.
For real!Photo of Southern gatekeeper
Picture by gailhampshire. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The male is smaller than the female. His front wing is about 15 to 16 millimetres long, hers about 20 millimetres.

2

The male has a dark patch of special scent scales on his front wings.

3

It can live in the mountains up to 2,000 metres high.

4

Unlike the gatekeeper, it has no spots under its back wings.

you asked

Most asked questions about Southern gatekeeper

?Where does the southern gatekeeper live?

Around the Mediterranean, in Southern Europe, North Africa and Turkey.

?What does the southern gatekeeper eat?

The butterflies drink nectar, and the caterpillars eat grass.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Pyronia cecilia
Group
Butterflies
Family
Nymphalidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Pyronia cecilia (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 gailhampshire. CC BY 2.0, 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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