Mexican bluewing
Myscelia ethusa
The Mexican bluewing is a tropical butterfly from Mexico, Central America and Colombia. Instead of drinking from flowers, the adults like to feast on rotting fruit. Now and then one flutters all the way into Texas.
Lives in
From Colombia through Central America to Mexico, sometimes into southern Texas
Wingspan
6.4 to 7.6 cm (2.5 to 3 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Adults sip the juice of rotting fruit. The caterpillars eat Dalechampia vines.
How big is it?
How wide are its wings?
🧱wings as wide as 2.5 toy building bricks⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 22 seconds
How big is Mexican bluewing compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Mexican bluewing about 17 km/h (11 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It feeds on rotting fruit instead of nectar.
2
Many families of young grow up every year.
3
Some butterflies stray north into the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
you asked
Most asked questions about Mexican bluewing
?What does the Mexican bluewing eat?
Adults drink juice from rotting fruit, and caterpillars eat Dalechampia vines.
?How big is the Mexican bluewing?
Its wings measure about 64 to 76 millimetres from tip to tip.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Myscelia ethusa
- Named by
- Doyère, 1840
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Blue wing
Where the facts come from
- Myscelia ethusa (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 D. Gordon E. Robertson. 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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