Great Eggfly
Hypolimnas bolina
Insecta
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- A few weeks
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Solitary
- Biome
- Tropical rainforest
- Range
- Southeast Asia
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Warning Colors
- Status
- Common
About
The great eggfly is a wide-ranging brush-footed butterfly found from Madagascar to New Zealand, with males sporting jet-black wings adorned with large white spots ringed in shimmering violet-blue iridescence. Females are highly polymorphic and many populations mimic toxic Euploea crow butterflies to gain protection from predators.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
- 2.caterpillarA voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
- 3.chrysalisA chrysalis hangs sealed and still while the body remodels into a winged adult.
- 4.butterflyA 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
- Hypolimnas
- Species
- Hypolimnas bolina