Autumn leaf
The autumn leaf is a butterfly that plays hide and seek. When it closes its wings, the brown underside looks just like a dry leaf. Opened up, the top of its wings shows bright orange.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its caterpillar is black with white spots and rows of blue, branched spines.
The pupa is yellowish with black spots and has two little points on its head.
It has many subspecies spread over lots of islands, from India all the way to the Solomon Islands.
Some kinds in India have wings that are more than 8 centimetres across.
Most asked questions about Autumn leaf
?Why is it called the autumn leaf?
Because with its wings closed it looks like a dry brown leaf.
?Where does the autumn leaf butterfly live?
In warm parts of Asia, on Pacific islands and in northeastern Australia.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Doleschallia bisaltide
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Leafwing
Where the facts come from
- Doleschallia bisaltide (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.
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