Band-celled sister
Adelpha fessonia
The band-celled sister is a butterfly from the warm lands of Central America and Mexico. It has a sweet tooth. Besides flower nectar, it loves to sip the juice of old, soft fruit.
Lives in
From Panama through Central America to Mexico, sometimes visiting southern Texas
Wingspan
5.6 to 7 cm (2.2 to 2.8 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting, so you can just enjoy watching it.
What does it eat?
It drinks nectar from flowers and also sips juice from rotting fruit. Its caterpillars munch the leaves of a hackberry tree.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🧱wings as wide as 2 toy building bricks⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 24 seconds
How big is Band-celled sister compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Band-celled sister about 16 km/h (9.9 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
With its wings open it measures about 6 to 7 centimetres across.
2
Every now and then it travels north and lives for a while in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
3
Its other English name is the Mexican sister.
you asked
Most asked questions about Band-celled sister
?Where does the band-celled sister live?
In Central America and Mexico. Sometimes it also turns up in southern Texas.
?What does the band-celled sister eat?
It drinks flower nectar and juice from rotting fruit. Its caterpillars eat hackberry leaves.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Adelpha fessonia
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Mexican sister
Where the facts come from
- Adelpha fessonia (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 Donar Reiskoffer. CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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