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Sticker of Epistrophus white morpho
Bug card No. 1565 of 4,939

Epistrophus white morpho

Morpho epistrophus
Name means: “named after Epistrophus, a hero in the old Greek story called the Iliad”
Eats: PlantsButterfliesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The white morpho is a big butterfly with chalky, milky white wings that shine a little blue. Most of its morpho cousins are bright blue, so this one really stands out. On the underside of its back wings it has a neat chain of little eye spots.

Lives in
South America: Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, in the Atlantic Forest
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
Its caterpillars live on forest trees and eat their leaves.
For real!Photo of Epistrophus white morpho
Picture by Notafly. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its wings are white instead of the bright blue that most morpho butterflies have.

2

Near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil it is very common from January to March.

3

It was first described a long time ago, in 1782, when scientists put it in a different group of butterflies.

you asked

Most asked questions about Epistrophus white morpho

?Where does the white morpho live?

In South America, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.

?Is the white morpho dangerous?

No. It is a harmless butterfly that cannot bite or sting.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Morpho epistrophus
Named by
Fabricius, 1796
Group
Butterflies
Family
Nymphalidae
Classification
Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
Lives on
South America
Also known as
White morpho

Where the facts come from

  1. Morpho laertes (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 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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More from the same group: Butterflies

Also at home here: Rainforests and jungles

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