Tawny coster
The tawny coster is an orange-brown butterfly with black spots and leathery wings. It flutters slowly and lazily, close to the ground. It does not need to hurry, because birds and lizards know it tastes horrible.
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Fun facts
When attacked, it plays dead and oozes a smelly yellow liquid from its leg joints.
Its tough body can survive a few pecks from a bird or even a lizard bite.
It usually flies lower than 3 metres and rests on plants about a metre off the ground.
When it feeds without landing properly, it flaps only its front wings to keep its balance.
Its caterpillars collect poisons from their food plants, which makes the butterflies taste bad.
Most asked questions about Tawny coster
?Is the tawny coster poisonous?
It tastes nasty to birds and lizards, but it is harmless for people to look at.
?What does the tawny coster eat?
The butterfly drinks flower nectar. Its caterpillars eat passionflower leaves.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Acraea terpsicore
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Acraea terpsicore (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 Subhendukhan. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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