# 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.

- **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.

## About

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.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/6d743be5-1576-461e-8700-dfa549bb8437
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/147298
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasiommata megera
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/4820288/medium.jpg (Jörg Hempel, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.