Gray buckeye
Junonia grisea
The gray buckeye is a brown butterfly with big round eyespots on its wings. The eyespots trick hungry birds into pecking at the wings instead of the butterfly's body.
Lives in
Western North America, west of the Rocky Mountains
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Like other butterflies of its kind, the grown-up drinks sweet nectar from flowers.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Gray buckeye about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
For a long time it was thought to be just a kind of common buckeye.
2
In 2018 two scientists in Canada discovered that it is its own separate species.
3
Its eyespots look like big staring eyes to scare away or confuse enemies.
you asked
Most asked questions about Gray buckeye
?Why does the gray buckeye have eyespots?
The spots distract hungry animals so they peck at the wings and not at its body.
?Where does the gray buckeye live?
In western North America, west of the Rocky Mountains.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Junonia grisea
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Grey buckeye, Western buckeye
Where the facts come from
- Junonia grisea (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 Lori Brandt Dudzik Depicted place: Mendocino County, CA, USA ( 38°54′27″N 123°13′38″W / 38.9076074266°N 123.2272006207°W / 38.9076074266; -123.2272006207 . CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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