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Sticker of Japanese oakblue
Bug card No. 2393 of 4,939

Japanese oakblue

Arhopala japonica
Eats: PlantsButterfliesForests and woods6 legs

The Japanese oakblue is a small butterfly from East Asia. Its wings are only about 2 to 3 centimetres across. Its caterpillars grow up on oak trees.

Lives in
East Asia: Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Indochina, near oak trees
Wingspan
2.4 to 3 cm (0.94 to 1.2 in)
Top speed
about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a small butterfly that cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars feed on several kinds of oak trees and their close relatives.
For real!Photo of Japanese oakblue
Picture by Alpsdake. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

Japanese oakblue wings about 3 cm tip to tip (1.2 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
wings as wide as 5 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 34 seconds

How big is Japanese oakblue compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It looks almost exactly like a close cousin from southern Asia, but it has no little tail on its back wings.

2

Its family of butterflies copes with cold better than its relatives. One butterfly collector caught dozens of them on chilly autumn mornings in Nagasaki, Japan.

3

There are two kinds of it, and one of them lives only on the island of Taiwan.

you asked

Most asked questions about Japanese oakblue

?Where does the Japanese oakblue live?

In East Asia: Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, Korea, Taiwan and Indochina.

?What does the Japanese oakblue eat?

Its caterpillars feed on oak trees and their close relatives.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Arhopala japonica
Group
Butterflies
Family
Lycaenidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
Lives on
Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Arhopala japonica (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 Alpsdake. 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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More from the same group: Butterflies

Also at home here: Forests and woods

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