Chryxus arctic
The chryxus arctic is a cream to orange-brown butterfly from the mountains of western North America. Its colours help it hide against the rocky ground. It is in no hurry to grow up: its caterpillar takes about two whole years to become a butterfly.
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Fun facts
Because the caterpillars take two years to grow, in many places the butterflies fly mainly every other year.
The males guard the tops of ridges. If another male comes along, they chase each other in a spiral flight.
The females fly up from the meadows to the ridges to find a male. This is called hilltopping.
Its eggs are white, shaped like little barrels and have 19 ridges running up and down.
The caterpillar sleeps through two winters before it turns into a pupa.
Most asked questions about Chryxus arctic
?What does the chryxus arctic eat?
Grown-ups drink nectar from flowers and sip from mud. The caterpillars eat grasses.
?Why does it fly only every other year?
Its caterpillars need about two years to grow, so in many places each group of butterflies flies two years apart.
?How big is the chryxus arctic?
Its wings are about 4 to 5,5 centimetres from tip to tip.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Oeneis chryxus
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Brown arctic
Where the facts come from
- Oeneis chryxus (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 Reuven Martin. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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