Common mestra
Mestra amymone
The common mestra is a small butterfly from the Americas. It loves to visit lantana flowers. In southern Texas you can see it at any time of the year.
Lives in
From southern Texas through Central America to South America
Wingspan
3.5 to 5 cm (1.4 to 2 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
It drinks sweet nectar from flowers, for example from lantana.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🧱wings as wide as 1.5 toy building bricks⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 27 seconds
How big is Common mestra compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Common mestra about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its wings measure about 3.5 to 5 centimetres from tip to tip.
2
In southern Texas it is most common from June to November.
3
It has many close relatives, from Jamaica to Brazil and Argentina, that look a little different from place to place.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common mestra
?What does the common mestra eat?
It drinks nectar from flowers such as lantana.
?Is the common mestra dangerous?
No. It is a harmless butterfly.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Mestra amymone
- Named by
- Ménétriés, 1857
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Amymone
Where the facts come from
- Mestra dorcas (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 Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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