Satyr comma
The satyr comma is an orange-brown butterfly with jagged wing edges from western North America. Its caterpillars live on stinging nettles. They are the only ones in their butterfly group that fold a leaf edge over and tie it with silk to make a little hiding tent.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its eggs are green with ribs, and the mother lays them in little chains of three or four.
An older caterpillar can curl up and hold still to look like a dead leaf or a twisted twig.
If something scares a young caterpillar, it drops down on a silk thread and climbs back up later.
Its pupa is pale tan with shiny silver or gold spots.
It was first described in 1869 from butterflies caught in Colorado.
Most asked questions about Satyr comma
?What does the satyr comma caterpillar eat?
Stinging nettles, and sometimes hops.
?Is the satyr comma dangerous?
No. The caterpillar's spines can make skin itch a little, but the butterfly is harmless.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Polygonia satyrus
- Named by
- W. H. Edwards, 1869
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Polygonia satyrus (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 (c) Sue Carnahan, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY 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.
Bug Wiki honey jar For grown-ups: Bug Wiki is free, with no ads and no tracking. A small tip helps keep it online.Leave a tip
Monarch butterfly
Peacock butterfly
Blue morpho
Old World swallowtail
Small white
Eastern tiger swallowtail
Variegated cutworm moth
European tube wasp
Flea jumping spider
Delicate cycnia moth
Green burgundy stink bug
Saxon wasp