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Sticker of Metallic cerulean
Bug card No. 2835 of 4,939

Metallic cerulean

Jamides alecto
Eats: Nectar and pollenButterfliesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The metallic cerulean is a small butterfly with milky white wings tinted pale lavender-blue. Underneath, its wings are soft pinkish grey with faint white lines. It lives in warm, green places in southern Asia.

Lives in
India, Sri Lanka and South-East Asia to Taiwan, the Philippines and Sulawesi
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 grown-ups sip nectar from flowers. The caterpillars eat spice plants like cardamom, ginger and turmeric.
For real!Photo of Metallic cerulean
Picture by Vinayaraj. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its caterpillars eat the plants that give us cardamom, ginger and turmeric.

2

Ants stay with its caterpillars and look after them.

3

Near the back corner of each hind wing it has a little brown spot touched with red.

4

There are about 20 different kinds of it, living on different islands and in different countries.

you asked

Most asked questions about Metallic cerulean

?What does the metallic cerulean eat?

The caterpillars eat spice plants like cardamom, ginger and turmeric, and the grown-ups drink nectar.

?Where does the metallic cerulean live?

In southern and South-East Asia, from India and Sri Lanka to Taiwan, the Philippines and Sulawesi.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Jamides alecto
Group
Butterflies
Family
Lycaenidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
Lives on
Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Jamides alecto (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 Vinayaraj. 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: Rainforests and jungles

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