Mylitta crescent
Phyciodes mylitta
The Mylitta crescent is a small orange butterfly with black markings and a white fringe along its wing edges. The females are a bit darker than the males. It loves meadows and stream banks.
Lives in
Western North America, in meadows and along streams
Wingspan
2.6 to 3.7 cm (1 to 1.5 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a gentle butterfly.
What does it eat?
The butterflies drink nectar from flowers. The caterpillars eat thistles.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🍚wings as wide as 6 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 32 seconds
How big is Mylitta crescent compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Mylitta crescent about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its caterpillars are black with spines and white markings.
2
In Canada it flies only in early summer, but in California it keeps flying until autumn.
3
It looks a lot like its cousin, the pale crescent.
you asked
Most asked questions about Mylitta crescent
?What does the Mylitta crescent eat?
The butterflies drink nectar, and the caterpillars eat thistles.
?How big is the Mylitta crescent?
Its wings measure about 2.5 to 3.5 centimetres from tip to tip.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Phyciodes mylitta
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Mylitta crescentspot
Where the facts come from
- Phyciodes mylitta (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 Silversyrpher (very busy at the moment) from Scotland, UK. CC BY 2.0, 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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