Purple-shot copper
Lycaena alciphron
The purple-shot copper is a small butterfly with red-gold wings and black spots. The male has a magic trick: his wings shimmer with a purple glow. The female is brown with black spots.
Lives in
Europe, Morocco and Turkey, at sunny, dry waysides and meadows
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Adults sip nectar from flowers like wild thyme and blackberry. The caterpillars eat sorrel leaves at night.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Purple-shot copper about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its caterpillar is green and only comes out to eat at night.
2
The caterpillar's dark head can only be seen while it is eating.
3
The butterflies fly in June and July and love the flowers of brambles on sunny paths.
4
In the south of Europe, a bigger and brighter orange-red kind of it lives.
you asked
Most asked questions about Purple-shot copper
?Why is it called purple-shot copper?
Because the male's wings shine with a purple glow over a copper colour.
?What does the purple-shot copper eat?
The butterflies drink nectar from flowers, and the caterpillars eat sorrel.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lycaena alciphron
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Purple-shot copper (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 https://www.flickr.com/people/145489125@N03/. CC BY-SA 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.
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
Pill millipede
Ladybird spider
Mirror spider
Transverse ladybird
Early bumblebee
Garden bumblebee_(cropped).jpg){kind=link}