Stats

Lifespan: 2-4 months
Size: Large
Diet: Herbivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Tropical rainforest
Range: Central and South America
Movement: Flight
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Rare

About

The Blue Morpho's brilliant iridescent wings — up to 20 cm across — get their colour not from pigment but from microscopic scales that scatter light through structural interference, making the butterfly appear to flash as it flies through Latin American rainforests.

Life cycle

1.
egg
A tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
2.
caterpillar
A voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
3.
chrysalis
A chrysalis hangs sealed and still while the body remodels into a winged adult.
4.
butterfly
A winged adult with full scales and coloration, ready to fly and mate.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Morpho
Species: Morpho helenor