The European peacock is a butterfly with a big eyespot on each of its four wings, like the "eyes" on a peacock's tail. It lives across Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan, but it isn't found in the wild in the United States.
Appearance
- Appearance
- The upperside is rusty red, with a black, blue, and yellow eyespot near each wingtip. The underside is very dark brown, so with its wings closed it looks like a dead leaf or a bit of bark. In Europe the wingspan is about 2.5–3 in (63–75 mm); butterflies in Japan are a little smaller, around 2.2 in (5.5 cm).
- Seasonal forms
- Adults spend the winter tucked away in buildings or hollow trees, so they're among the first butterflies seen in spring.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- woodlands
- meadows and fields
- parks and gardens
- Range
- Europe and temperate Asia, east to the Russian Far East and Japan. Not native to North America.
- Preferred conditions
- Found from lowlands up to about 8,200 ft (2,500 m).
Behavior
- Activity
- When disturbed, it flashes its eyespots to startle birds. In dark winter hideouts, where eyespots don't help, it rubs its wings to make a hissing sound that scares off mice and other rodents.
- Overwintering
- Overwinters as an adult butterfly.
Life cycle
- Larva
- The caterpillars are black and spiny and grow to about 1.7 in (42 mm).
- Caterpillar food plants
- Caterpillars feed mainly on stinging nettle and hops.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Older books call it Inachis io. Butterflies in Japan and the Russian Far East belong to the subspecies geisha (the Japanese peacock butterfly). In the Americas, the butterflies called "peacocks" (such as the white peacock) belong to a different genus, Anartia, and aren't closely related to this species.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
More species to explore
Record what you meet and build your own collection
Your photos are kept with their date and place, and you can fill regional albums one species at a time.