Lesser purple emperor
The lesser purple emperor is a dark brown butterfly with white or pale brown bands. When the sun hits the male's wings just right, they flash shiny blue and purple. Then he looks like he is wearing a royal cape.
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Fun facts
Only the male has the shiny purple shimmer. The female is dull brown.
It has a small orange eyespot on each front wing, which helps tell it apart from its bigger cousin.
Some lesser purple emperors have white bands and some have pale brown ones, as if they wear two different outfits.
Its caterpillar is dirty green, about 4 to 5 centimetres long, with two little reddish horns on its head.
The male's wings are a little bigger than the female's.
Most asked questions about Lesser purple emperor
?Why does the lesser purple emperor change colour?
Its wings have tiny scales that shine blue and purple only when the light hits them at the right angle. Only the males do it.
?How big is the lesser purple emperor?
Its open wings are about 5.5 to 7 centimetres across.
?Where does the lesser purple emperor live?
Across most of Europe and east through Asia, in woods and at forest edges.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Apatura ilia
- Named by
- Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Apatura ilia (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 unknown author. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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