European Peacock Butterfly
Aglais io
When threatened by a predator, the Peacock butterfly can rub its wings together to produce a quiet, snake-like hissing sound to scare them away.
- Scientific name
- Aglais io
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Nymphalidae › Aglais
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Meadows, gardens, pastures, orchards, and woodland edges.
- Diet
- Adults feed on nectar from buddleia, dandelions, and thistles; caterpillars feed primarily on stinging nettles and wild hops.
- Range
- Europe, Temperate Asia, Japan
- Size
- Wingspan of 50 to 55 mm
- Lifespan
- Up to 11 months (including winter hibernation)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss from intensive agriculture, pesticide use, and the removal of stinging nettles (their primary larval food source).
- Safe to approach?
- This species is completely harmless to humans. You can safely observe it from any distance. Avoid touching its wings, as handling can rub off the delicate scales essential for flight and insulation.
Aglais io , the European peacock , more commonly known simply as the peacock butterfly, is a colourful butterfly, found in Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan. Formerly classified as the only member of the genus Inachis (the name is derived from Greek mythology, meaning Io, the daughter of Inachus). It should not be confused or classified with the "American peacocks" in the genus Anartia ; these are not close relatives of the Eurasian species. The...
Photo: S. Rae, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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