Meadow brown
The meadow brown is a brown butterfly of grassy meadows. Near the tip of each front wing it has a black eyespot with a tiny white dot in the middle. Females have a bright orange patch around the eyespot, while males are plainer brown.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
When a bird comes near, a female can suddenly flash her eyespots. The surprise gives her a chance to fly away.
Males fly far and wide, but females often stay close to the place where they grew up.
On the underside of the back wings there can be up to twelve tiny eyespots, or sometimes none at all.
The caterpillar is bright green and covered in short white hairs, so it hides well in the grass.
The mother lays each egg on a blade of grass, right where the caterpillar will need its food.
Most asked questions about Meadow brown
?What does the meadow brown eat?
The butterflies drink flower nectar. The caterpillars eat grasses.
?How can you tell a male meadow brown from a female?
The female has a big orange patch around the eyespot on her front wing. The male is mostly plain brown.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Maniola jurtina
- Group
- Butterflies
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Meadow brown (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 Charles J. Sharp. 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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