Purple crow butterfly
The purple crow butterfly is a dark brown butterfly that shimmers purple in the sunshine. In Taiwan, huge swarms of them travel across the country every year. People even put up nets over a highway to help them cross safely.
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Fun facts
Its purple shine only shows when sunlight hits its wings.
In Taiwan the butterflies migrate from the north to the south and back again.
During the big crossing, cars on the highway must slow down so the butterflies are safe.
It belongs to the crows and tigers, a group of butterflies related to the monarch.
Most asked questions about Purple crow butterfly
?Why is it called the purple crow?
Because its dark wings shimmer purple in the sunshine.
?Do purple crow butterflies migrate?
Yes. In Taiwan they travel in huge swarms from north to south and back.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Euploea tulliolus
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Dwarf crow, Small brown crow
Where the facts come from
- Euploea tulliolus (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 Peellden. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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