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Sticker of Sara longwing
Bug card No. 3742 of 4,939

Sara longwing

Heliconius sara
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The Sara longwing is a beautiful rainforest butterfly. On top, its wings are black with a big patch of shiny metallic blue and two white bands. It is poisonous to eat, so birds learn to leave it alone.

Lives in
From Mexico down to the Amazon and southern Brazil, in rainforests and along forest edges
Wingspan
5.5 to 6 cm (2.2 to 2.4 in)
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It is only poisonous to animals that try to eat it.
What does it eat?
The grown-ups drink nectar from flowers like lantana. The caterpillars eat the leaves of passion flower vines.
For real!Photo of Sara longwing
Picture by Original uploader was DirkvdM at en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by Samsara at en.wikipedia .. CC BY 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Sara longwing wings about 6 cm tip to tip (2.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 2 toy building brickscould fly across a whole football pitch in 25 seconds

How big is Sara longwing compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its caterpillars eat passion flower vines, which are poisonous. The caterpillars keep the poison in their bodies, and it stays in the butterfly too.

2

A grown-up Sara longwing can live 2 to 3 months, which is a long time for a butterfly.

3

The mother lays little yellow eggs in groups of 10 to 50 on fresh passion flower shoots.

4

Its chrysalis hangs on the vine and looks just like a leaf.

5

Males wait next to a female's chrysalis so they can meet her as soon as she comes out.

you asked

Most asked questions about Sara longwing

?Is the Sara longwing poisonous?

Yes, to animals that eat it. It gets the poison from the passion flower leaves it ate as a caterpillar. It is harmless to touch.

?How long does a Sara longwing live?

The butterfly lives about 2 to 3 months, much longer than many other butterflies.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Heliconius sara
Group
Butterflies
Family
Nymphalidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
Lives on
North America, South America

Where the facts come from

  1. Sara longwing (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Original uploader was DirkvdM at en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by Samsara at en.wikipedia .. CC BY 1.0, 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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