Tiger mimic-queen
Lycorea halia
The tiger mimic-queen is a big butterfly from the rainforests of the Americas. Its name tells us it looks like other tiger-striped butterflies. The grown-ups have a strange favourite food: bird droppings.
Lives in
From Peru to Mexico and the Caribbean, and sometimes as far as Texas
Wingspan
9.5 to 11 cm (3.7 to 4.3 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-up butterflies feed on bird droppings. The caterpillars eat papaya, fig and milkweed plants.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
✋wings as wide as your hand⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 19 seconds
How big is Tiger mimic-queen compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Tiger mimic-queen about 20 km/h (12 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its wings are about 9.5 to 11 centimetres from tip to tip.
2
Its caterpillars can eat papaya plants and fig trees.
3
It has about ten slightly different kinds in different countries.
you asked
Most asked questions about Tiger mimic-queen
?What does the tiger mimic-queen eat?
The butterflies feed on bird droppings, and the caterpillars eat papaya, fig and milkweed.
?Where does the tiger mimic-queen live?
In rainforests from Peru to Mexico and the Caribbean.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Lycorea halia
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- South America, North America
- Also known as
- Tropical milkweed butterfly
Where the facts come from
- Lycorea halia (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 Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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