Coconut caterpillar
The coconut caterpillar is really a big butterfly from South America. It got its name from its hungry caterpillars, which love the leaves of coconut palms and many other palm trees.
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Fun facts
Its wings can be more than 10 centimetres across, wider than a grown-up's hand.
Its caterpillars eat so many palm leaves that farmers see them as pests.
Besides palms, its caterpillars have been found on bananas, sugar cane and the bird of paradise flower.
Most asked questions about Coconut caterpillar
?Why is it called the coconut caterpillar?
Because its caterpillars eat the leaves of coconut palms and many other palm trees.
?How big is this butterfly?
Its wings measure 7 to 10.5 centimetres from tip to tip.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Brassolis sophorae
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- South America
Where the facts come from
- Brassolis sophorae (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 Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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