Bug card No. 1498 of 1,500

Zebra longwing

Heliconius charithonia

Eats: Nectar and pollen ButterfliesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The zebra longwing has long black wings with thin yellow stripes, like a zebra. Its bold colours warn birds that it tastes bad. At night, many zebra longwings sleep together in a group on the same branch.

Lives in

South and Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Texas and Florida

Wingspan

7.2 to 10 cm (2.8 to 3.9 in)

Top speed

about 19 km/h (12 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless to people. It is only bad to eat, so birds leave it alone.

What does it eat?

Grown-ups drink nectar and also eat pollen, which is rare for a butterfly. The caterpillars eat passionflower leaves.

Photo of Zebra longwing — Picture by Photograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ).. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How wide are its wings?

wings as wide as your handcould fly across a whole football pitch in 20 seconds

How big is Zebra longwing compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

Zebra longwing about 19 km/h (12 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Eating pollen helps it make poison in its body, which makes it taste bad to predators.

Up to 60 butterflies sleep together and come back to the same spot every night.

Thanks to pollen it can live up to 3 months as a butterfly, much longer than many others.

Its caterpillars are white with black spots and many black spikes.

Passionflower leaves have tiny hooked hairs, so the caterpillars bite them off or cover them with silk mats.

you asked

Most asked questions about Zebra longwing

?What does the zebra longwing eat?

Nectar and pollen. Its caterpillars eat passionflower leaves.

?Is the zebra longwing poisonous?

It makes poison in its body so birds do not want to eat it, but it is harmless to people.

?How long does a zebra longwing live?

Up to about 3 months as a butterfly in the wild.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Heliconius charithonia
Named by: Linnaeus, 1767
Group: Butterflies
Family: Nymphalidae
Classification: Insecta > Lepidoptera > Nymphalidae
Lives on: North America, South America
Also known as: Zebra heliconian

Where the facts come from

Heliconius charithonia (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 Photograph by Mike Peel ( www.mikepeel.net ).. 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.