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Sticker of Iberian marbled white
Bug card No. 2320 of 4,939

Iberian marbled white

Melanargia lachesis
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesGardens and meadows6 legs

The Iberian marbled white is a white butterfly with a pattern of black lines and patches, like a chessboard drawn by hand. It lives in Spain, Portugal and the south of France. It loves dry, flowery meadows.

Lives in
Spain, Portugal and southern France, in dry flowery meadows
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The butterflies visit flowers in meadows. The caterpillars eat different kinds of grass.
For real!Photo of Iberian marbled white
Picture by Eric SYLVESTRE. CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Each front wing is about 2.5 to 2.8 centimetres long.

2

It is lighter and whiter than its cousin, the marbled white.

3

Some of these butterflies are creamy yellow instead of chalky white.

4

It flies once a year, from June to August, and lives from low plains up to 1,600 metres high in the hills.

you asked

Most asked questions about Iberian marbled white

?Where does the Iberian marbled white live?

In Spain, Portugal and southern France, in dry meadows full of flowers.

?What do Iberian marbled white caterpillars eat?

They eat different kinds of grass.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Melanargia lachesis
Named by
Hübner
Group
Butterflies
Family
Nymphalidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Melanargia lachesis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Eric SYLVESTRE. CC BY 2.5, 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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