Blue morpho
The blue morpho is a big butterfly with shining, bright blue wings edged in black. When it closes its wings, you see only brown, so it seems to vanish. It floats slowly through the rainforests of Central and South America.
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Fun facts
Its blue colour is not made by paint-like colour. Tiny structures on its wings bounce the light and make it shine.
Its wings measure about 12 centimetres across, wider than a grown-up's hand.
It flies in a slow, floppy way.
It hides in small, sheltered spots when it rains, because heavy rain can hurt its wings.
The caterpillars are red-brown with bright green spots.
Most asked questions about Blue morpho
?Why is the blue morpho so blue?
Tiny structures on its wings bounce the light around, which makes them shine bright blue.
?How big is a blue morpho?
Its wings are about 12 centimetres across.
?What does a blue morpho eat?
The butterfly sips juice from rotting fruit on the ground. The caterpillar eats leaves.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Morpho menelaus
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
- Also known as
- Menelaus blue morpho
Where the facts come from
- Morpho menelaus (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 Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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