Common morpho
Morpho helenor
The common morpho is a big blue morpho butterfly from the warm forests of Central and South America. Like its morpho cousins, it has shining blue wings. It lives over a huge area, from Mexico all the way to Argentina.
Lives in
Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina, in tropical forests
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars eat the leaves of plants like ingá trees, wisteria, clover and even peanut plants.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Common morpho about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Scientists have named about 30 different kinds of it, called subspecies, in different places.
2
Scientists are not sure if it is one species or a group of several look-alike species.
3
Its caterpillars have been found feeding on peanut plants and clover.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common morpho
?Where does the common morpho live?
In Central and South America, from Mexico all the way to Argentina.
?What does the common morpho caterpillar eat?
Leaves of plants like ingá trees, wisteria, clover and peanut plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Morpho helenor
- Named by
- Cramer, 1776
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Helenor blue morpho, Common blue morpho
Where the facts come from
- Morpho helenor (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 Notafly. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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