Variable cracker
The variable cracker is a butterfly that can make a noise. When another butterfly flies by, the male zooms out with a loud cracking click. Its wings are a mosaic of white, brown and bluish grey, perfect for hiding on tree bark.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
It likes to sit head down, pressed flat against a tree trunk, where it almost disappears.
If another male hears the click, he clicks back. A female stays quiet.
In tests, males liked to sit on white spots, while females chose grey ones.
Its caterpillar has little spines on its back and comes in two colours: bluish black or greyish green.
In Mexico you can see it flying all year round.
Most asked questions about Variable cracker
?Why is it called a cracker butterfly?
Because the male makes a cracking, clicking sound when he flies out to meet another butterfly.
?What does the variable cracker eat?
The grown-up butterflies drink from rotting fruit, and the caterpillars eat vine leaves.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Hamadryas feronia
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Blue cracker
Where the facts come from
- Hamadryas feronia (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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Monarch butterfly
Peacock butterfly
Blue morpho
Old World swallowtail
Small white
Eastern tiger swallowtail
Togo starburst baboon spider
Giant centipede
Brown rhinoceros beetle
Jataí bee
Litchi lantern bug
Five-horned rhinoceros beetle_Copan.jpg){kind=link}