Whitebar acraea
The whitebar acraea is an orange butterfly with black dots and a dark wing tip crossed by a white bar. It is a slow flier that likes to rest on low plants. It is also a clever copycat of a bigger butterfly.
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Fun facts
It looks a lot like the much bigger African monarch butterfly. Birds do not like the taste of either one, so looking alike protects them both.
It flies all year round, but it is easiest to spot from March to May.
In some places there are mothers that only have daughters. Tiny bacteria living inside them cause this.
Its caterpillar is slate black with a yellow stripe on each side and black spines.
Some males like to gather on hilltops, where they perch and check out other butterflies.
Most asked questions about Whitebar acraea
?Where does the whitebar acraea live?
In Africa south of the Sahara, on Madagascar and in south-western Arabia.
?How big is the whitebar acraea?
Its open wings measure about 4 to 5 centimetres. Females are a little bigger than males.
?Why does it look like another butterfly?
It copies the African monarch. Birds have learned that both taste bad, so they leave them alone.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Telchinia encedon
- Named by
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Africa, Asia
- Also known as
- Common acraea, White-barred acraea, Encedon acraea
Where the facts come from
- Acraea encedon (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 Charles J. Sharp. 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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