Common castor butterfly
The common castor is an orange-brown butterfly with thin, wavy brown lines across its wings. Its caterpillars eat almost nothing but the castor oil plant, which gave it its name. It looks paler in the dry season than in the rainy season.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its two front legs are tiny, hairy and unused, so it walks on just four legs.
Butterflies born in the dry season are paler than those born in the rainy season.
Its caterpillar is green, slim and covered in branched spines that help keep enemies away.
Its chrysalis is pale green and has sharp corners.
Most asked questions about Common castor butterfly
?Why is it called the common castor?
Because its caterpillars feed almost only on the castor oil plant.
?How many legs does the common castor walk on?
Four. Like its relatives, its two front legs are tiny and not used for walking.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ariadne merione
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Asia
- Also known as
- Common castor
Where the facts come from
- Ariadne merione (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 Vinayaraj. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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