Tawny emperor
The tawny emperor is an orange-brown butterfly with dark brown edges and pale yellow spots. It does not care much for flowers. Instead it sips tree sap and juices from dung and dead animals.
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Fun facts
Its caterpillars eat only one kind of tree, the hackberry.
You may see it near houses, on gravel driveways and around muddy places.
The female lays her green eggs in clusters.
In some places there is a dark form with almost all-dark back wings.
Most asked questions about Tawny emperor
?What does the tawny emperor eat?
The butterfly drinks tree sap and juices from dung and dead animals. Its caterpillars eat hackberry leaves.
?Where can I see a tawny emperor?
Near hackberry trees, in gardens, woods, near water and even on driveways.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Asterocampa clyton
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Asterocampa clyton (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 Greg Hume. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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