Eastern dotted border
The eastern dotted border is a white African butterfly with a soft yellow glow. Along the edges of its wings runs a neat row of black dots, like a dotted line drawn with a pen. It flies slowly, so it is easy to watch.
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Fun facts
Its pupa looks just like a bird dropping. Hungry birds do not want to eat that.
The caterpillars live together in groups and eat leaves side by side.
You can see the adults flying all year round, but there are the most in October and from late February to April.
Males like to sit on wet mud and drink from it.
In South Africa it has spread west along the coast and now lives even north of Cape Town.
Most asked questions about Eastern dotted border
?What does the eastern dotted border eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar from flowers. The caterpillars eat the leaves of mistletoe and similar plants.
?How big is the eastern dotted border?
Its wings measure about 5 to 6.5 cm from tip to tip. Females are a bit bigger than males.
?Where can I see an eastern dotted border?
In eastern and southern Africa. It often flies in gardens, high up near the tops of trees.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Mylothris agathina
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Pieridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Pieridae
- Lives on
- Africa
- Also known as
- Common dotted border
Where the facts come from
- Mylothris agathina (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 Derek Keats from Johannesburg, South Africa. CC BY 2.0, 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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