Yellow admiral
The yellow admiral is a butterfly with dark wings, a wide bright yellow stripe and a splash of dull red. Its back wings have a row of black circles with light blue middles. It is a strong, fast flyer.
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Fun facts
In the Māori language it is called kahukōwhai, which means yellow cloak.
It may be blown by the wind all the way from Australia across the sea to New Zealand.
The caterpillars eat at night. In the daytime they hide inside a curled-up leaf.
Its caterpillar is covered in rows of spikes and grows to about 3 centimetres long.
The mother lays her green, barrel-shaped eggs one by one on nettle leaves.
Most asked questions about Yellow admiral
?What does the yellow admiral caterpillar eat?
Mostly stinging nettles. It feeds at night and hides in a rolled leaf by day.
?Where do yellow admirals live?
In Australia, New Zealand and some nearby islands, in open country and gardens with nettles.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Vanessa itea
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Australian admiral
Where the facts come from
- Yellow admiral (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 Tony Wills. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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