# Common Buckeye

*Junonia coenia*

The large, realistic eyespots on their wings can flash suddenly to scare off predatory birds, mimicking the eyes of a much larger animal.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Nymphalidae › Junonia
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Open sunny areas, meadows, pastures, roadsides, and coastal dunes.
- **Diet:** Adults drink nectar from aster, coreopsis, and clover; caterpillars feed on plantains, snapdragons, and ruellia.
- **Range:** United States, Mexico, Central America, Bermuda
- **Size:** Wingspan of 4.2 to 7 cm (1.6 to 2.8 inches)
- **Lifespan:** 10 to 14 days as an adult
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Widespread herbicide and pesticide use, loss of open meadow habitats to suburban development.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless. You can safely observe this butterfly from a few feet away as it basks on bare ground or visits flowers. They are highly territorial and may fly directly toward you to investigate, but they cannot bite or sting.

## About

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## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/cc264e26-2c17-4a4a-9665-460e439f65d3
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48505
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junonia coenia
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/30041591/medium.jpg (skitterbug, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

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