Small grass-yellow
The small grass-yellow is a little yellow butterfly with black tips on its front wings. It lives all over Australia. In summer it is pale yellow, and in winter it turns a brighter yellow with brown marks underneath.
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Fun facts
In spring it travels south across Australia, carried along by hot winds from the north.
When it migrates it flies low and straight, below the height of your head.
Its eggs are shaped like tiny spindles, white at first and then yellowish. In spring they hatch after 7 to 11 days.
The green chrysalis can hang with its head pointing up or pointing down.
The girls are a little bigger than the boys, and the boys are a brighter yellow.
Most asked questions about Small grass-yellow
?How big is the small grass-yellow?
Its wingspan is about 30 to 34 millimetres, about as wide as a big coin.
?Are small grass-yellow caterpillars poisonous?
Their hairs make tiny drops of poison, so it is best not to touch them.
?Where does the small grass-yellow live?
All over mainland Australia, and a few have been seen in India, Java and Niger.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eurema smilax
- Named by
- Donovan, 1805
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Pieridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Pieridae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania, Asia, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Eurema smilax (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 NSG group from Lund, Sweden. CC0, 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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