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Sticker of Red-spot Jezebel
Bug card No. 3594 of 4,939

Red-spot Jezebel

Delias descombesi
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesForests and woods6 legs

The red-spot Jezebel is a big butterfly from southern Asia. The male is white on top, but underneath its back wings are bright yellow with a black edge. Hidden in that black edge is a little red streak, which gives it its name.

Lives in
Southern Asia, from Nepal and northeast India to Thailand, Vietnam and the Malay Peninsula
Wingspan
8.3 to 9 cm (3.3 to 3.5 in)
Top speed
about 18 km/h (11 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Butterflies cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Like other butterflies, it drinks sweet nectar from flowers through a long, curly tongue.
For real!Photo of Red-spot Jezebel
Picture by Dr. Raju Kasambe. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Red-spot Jezebel wings about 9 cm tip to tip (3.5 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
wings as wide as 3 toy building brickscould fly across a whole football pitch in 21 seconds

How big is Red-spot Jezebel compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It belongs to the family of whites and yellows, just like the cabbage white butterflies of our gardens.

2

The male and the female look very different. The male is white on top, while the female is black with white spots.

3

With its wings open it is 8 to 9 centimetres across, which is big for a white butterfly.

4

On the female, the red streak under the back wing shines through the thin wing, so you can see it faintly from above.

you asked

Most asked questions about Red-spot Jezebel

?What does the red-spot Jezebel look like?

The male is white on top. Under its back wings it is bright yellow with a black border and a small red streak.

?How big is the red-spot Jezebel?

Its open wings are about 8 to 9 centimetres across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Delias descombesi
Group
Butterflies
Family
Pieridae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Pieridae
Lives on
Asia
Also known as
Redspot Jezebel

Where the facts come from

  1. Delias descombesi (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 Dr. Raju Kasambe. 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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Also at home here: Forests and woods

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