Sloe hairstreak
The sloe hairstreak is a small dark brown butterfly with a few little red spots near its tail. Its caterpillars grow up on blackthorn bushes, which are also called sloe. It loves sunny, rocky slopes with blackthorn hedges.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Sloe is another name for blackthorn, the thorny bush its caterpillars eat.
The male has 1 to 3 small red spots near the back corner of its wings, and the female has 2 to 5.
Its caterpillar is grass green with a black head and two yellowish lines along its back.
Each group of these butterflies sticks to its own small home patch, so they can be hard to find.
Most asked questions about Sloe hairstreak
?What does the sloe hairstreak eat?
The butterfly drinks nectar. Its caterpillars eat the leaves of blackthorn, also called sloe.
?Where does the sloe hairstreak live?
In central and southern Europe, east to Turkey and the Caucasus, on sunny slopes with blackthorn.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Satyrium acaciae
- Named by
- Fabricius
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Satyrium acaciae (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 www.invertebradosdehuesca.com. CC BY 3.0 es, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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