Common sailer
Neptis hylas
The common sailer is a black butterfly with bright white bands and spots on its wings. It glides along with stiff, short wing beats, like a little sailing boat. Underneath, its wings are golden brown with white stripes.
Lives in
India, Sri Lanka, China and Southeast Asia, and a small area in Italy and Slovenia, in forests and gardens
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its pale green caterpillar eats the leaves of plants like the silk cotton tree, rubber trees and beans.
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)
Common sailer about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It can make sounds, but nobody knows yet what they are for.
2
More than 20 different kinds of it have been described.
3
Its caterpillar has soft spiky bumps on its back.
4
Its pupa has little golden spots on its sides.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common sailer
?Why is it called the sailer?
Because it glides along with stiff wings and short wing beats, like a boat sailing.
?Where does the common sailer live?
In India, Sri Lanka, China and Southeast Asia, and also in a small area of Italy and Slovenia.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Neptis hylas
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Europe
- Also known as
- Common sailor
Where the facts come from
- Neptis hylas (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 Jeevan Jose, Kerala, India. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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