The Forest Pierrot is a tiny Asian butterfly whose caterpillars are true carnivores, eating aphids instead of leaves. Its white underwings are dotted with round black spots. It doesn't live in the United States; it is found across southern and eastern Asia, including Korea and Japan.
Appearance
- Appearance
- A small butterfly with a wingspan of about 0.8–1 in (21–25 mm). The upperside is plain dark brown; the underside is white with scattered round black spots.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Bamboo thickets
- Lowland forests
- Range
- Found from Sikkim and Assam in India through Myanmar, China, Taiwan, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java to Korea and Japan. It is not found in North America.
Behavior
- Diet
- Caterpillars eat aphids that live on bamboo and bamboo grass. Adults rarely visit flowers and instead feed on the sugary honeydew the aphids give off.
- Activity
- A weak, fluttery flier that usually stays close to the bamboo patch where it grew up.
- Overwintering
- Spends the winter as a caterpillar.
Life cycle
- Larva
- Females lay eggs right among aphid colonies. Young caterpillars spin a silk tent inside the colony and hunt from it.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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