Stats

Lifespan: A few weeks
Size: Medium
Diet: Herbivore
Activity: Diurnal
Social: Solitary
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America
Movement: Flight
Breeding: Egg-laying
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Common

About

A medium-sized brushfoot butterfly that spends nearly its entire life cycle on hackberry trees — the caterpillars eat the leaves and adults roost in the canopy. Rather than visiting flowers, adults feed on tree sap, rotting fruit, and animal dung, and will land on sweaty hikers to sip minerals from their skin.

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: Asterocampa
Species: Asterocampa celtis