Zebra blue
The zebra blue is a small butterfly from the blues family. On top the male is dark violet with a blue shimmer. Underneath, its wings are white with brown stripes, just like a little zebra.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Near the edge of each back wing it has two jet-black spots ringed with glittering metallic green.
Butterflies born in the dry season are paler than those born in the wet season.
Its caterpillar hides among the flower buds of the plumbago plant while it eats.
Its caterpillars also eat many pea-family plants, such as indigo and alfalfa.
Most asked questions about Zebra blue
?Why is it called the zebra blue?
Because the underside of its wings is white with brown stripes, like a zebra.
?What does the zebra blue caterpillar eat?
Flower buds of plumbago and plants of the pea family.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Leptotes plinius
- Named by
- Fabricius, 1793
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Lycaenidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Plumbago blue
Where the facts come from
- Leptotes plinius (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 J.M.Garg. CC BY 3.0, 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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