Lesser wanderer
The lesser wanderer is an orange butterfly from Australia and nearby tropical countries. True to its name, it wanders far and wide. It flies slowly and close to the ground over open country.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
In dry central Australia it moves on when its food plants dry up.
In south-eastern Australia it leaves when the winter gets too cold.
Scientists used to think it was part of another butterfly species, the plain tiger.
A deep sea channel kept its family apart from its cousins long ago, and so it became its own species.
Most asked questions about Lesser wanderer
?What does the lesser wanderer caterpillar eat?
Plants with milky sap, such as cotton bush and milkweeds.
?Why is it called the lesser wanderer?
Because it travels around a lot, moving to new places when food runs out or the weather turns cold.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Danaus petilia
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Danaus petilia (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 Jean and Fred. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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