Wall Brown
Lasiommata megera
Males are highly territorial patrolmen, fiercely defending their sunny stone perches from any passing insect, even those much larger than themselves.
- Scientific name
- Lasiommata megera
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Nymphalidae › Lasiommata
- IUCN Red List status
- Near Threatened
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Dry, sunny, open areas including stony ground, railway embankments, coastal cliffs, quarries, and old stone walls.
- Diet
- Adults feed on nectar from flowers like bramble and fleabane; caterpillars feed on various grasses including Cock's-foot and False Brome.
- Range
- Europe, North Africa, Western Asia
- Size
- Wingspan of 36 to 50 mm.
- Lifespan
- Adults live 2 to 3 weeks; up to 10 months total lifespan including the overwintering larval stage.
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss due to agricultural intensification, scrub encroachment shading out warm basking sites, and climate-induced changes in developmental timing.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. You can safely observe this butterfly from a close distance as it basks on stones or walls. Do not attempt to catch or handle it, as touching its wings can rub off the delicate scales essential for flight.
Lasiommata megera , the wall or wall brown , is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae (subfamily Satyrinae). It is widespread in the Palearctic realm with a large variety of habitats and number of generations a year.
Photo: Jörg Hempel, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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