Banded orange heliconian
The banded orange heliconian is a bright orange butterfly with thick black stripes, like a little tiger. The females are a duller orange with fuzzier stripes. Birds leave it alone, because it tastes bad.
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Fun facts
Before mating time, hundreds of males gather on wet mud to drink salty water.
When they cannot find salty mud, they drink the salty sweat and tears from the skin and noses of other animals.
It shares its orange warning colours with other bad-tasting butterflies, so birds learn to avoid all of them.
It is the only species in its genus, Dryadula.
Most asked questions about Banded orange heliconian
?Why don't birds eat the banded orange heliconian?
It tastes bad, and its bright orange colours warn birds to stay away.
?What does the banded orange heliconian eat?
Nectar from flowers and juice from bird droppings. Its caterpillars eat passion vines.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dryadula phaetusa
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Banded orange, Orange tiger
Where the facts come from
- Dryadula phaetusa (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 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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