Red Lacewing Butterfly

Facts for Red Lacewing Butterfly, "Scientific name for Red Lacewing Butterfly is Cethosia biblis". Named by Drury in 1773, the Red Lacewing Butterfly is a heliconiine species in the Nymphalidae family. Its name is derived from the evident exquisite lace-like patterns on the underwings. Due to its tendency to spread wings only showing its under-wings, it is much simpler to see the lace-like patterns.

Red Lacewing Butterfly is medium sized with a wingspan extending up to (3 1/2 inches) 9 cm long. The male Red Lacewing Butterfly have bright-orange red dorsal sides with a black outline and white spots. The undersides have different range of colors, notably, bright red to pale brown that are interlaced by black and white colors. The Red Lacewing Butterfly have the most elaborate wing patterns of all butterflies. The Red Lacewing butterflies use their dorsal colors to spearhead a warning to predators that they have a bad taste mainly coming from the host plants of the caterpillar while their color pattern helps in defining the general shape of the butterflies. The female Red Lacewing Butterfly have a grayish-brownish color with black spots and white bands and spots on their black margins.

Habitat and geographical distribution of Red Lacewing Butterfly

The Red Lacewing butterfly is mainly found in the Indian Subcontinent towards the Southeast Asia and East Asia, in the Philippines and the Indonesia regions. The Red Lacewing Butterfly are also found in Burma, China, Indochina, Thailand, the Andaman Islands and northeast India. A number of various subspecies have been identified and linked to the red lacewing butterfly in various parts of the world. Some of them are the C. c.chrysippe and the C. c. cydippe. The latter occurs majorly in Aru Islands and Maluku in Indonesia and in some parts of New Guinea. Other areas are the Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea. C. c. chrysippe was first described to have occurred in Cook town, Queensland. The subspecies are found north of Gulf Country and in the Northeast Coastal region.

The Red Lacewing Butterfly are insects. A Red Lacewing Butterfly is a herbivore; Meaning that as a caterpillar its first food is its own eggshell and than it will eat the leaves of the plant on which it is hatched. When it becomes a butterfly, it will feed mostly on nectar from flowers, rotting fruit and water with a "proboscis" - a long narrow tube in their mouth that looks like a straw.

Reproduction of Red Lacewing Butterfly

Life cycle of a Red Lacewing Butterfly comes in four stages, egg, larva "caterpillars", pupa "chrysalis" and adult Butterfly.
A Red Lacewing Butterfly will attach its eggs to leaves with a special glue.

When caterpillars become fully grown they will attach to an appropriate leaf or small branch, than they will shed the outside layer of their skin and a hard skin underneath known as a "chrysalis" will be their new look. Female Red Lacewing Butterflys lay the pale yellow eggs in groups of 50 on the host plant. Caterpillars hatching from these eggs are herbivorous and feed on vines. The caterpillars have a black and red stripe, a black head and legs. They have many black spikes that emanate from their bodies. The caterpillars only live in the host plant – the poisonous Passiflora conchinchinese.
The Red Lacewing Butterfly have long black hairs and they form a congregation in the host plant’s leaves. An adult Red Lacewing Butterfly will come out from the "chrysalis" than it waits a few hours for its wings to dry and fill with blood, before it takes its first flight.

Feeding of Red Lacewing Butterfly

The Red Lacewing Butterfly has highly poisonous spikes and mainly feeds on Passiflora, a poisonous climbing plant. The caterpillars also feed on the Queensland passion fruit (Hollrungia aurantioides). Their adults drink nectar from Lantana camara. The pupa is drab brown with metallic gold specs on one of its sides. They are spiky and resemble a dead leaf hanging from a cremaster on the host plant.

Both sexes of Red Lacewing adult butterflies tend to be very active in the morning when they are very busy searching for nectar. After feeding, they normally bask holding their wings half open. In warm overcasts, the Red Lacewing Butterfly can be seen basking with their wings widely spread. Adenia heterophylla is one of the rainforest vines that act as their favorite food plants. The lacewing vine is also another vine that is favored by the butterfly. The lacewing vine has red fruits, making the scenery a beautiful one.


A Red Lacewing Butterfly has sense organ, on their feet or tarsi, for tasting
The estimate is between 15000 and 20000 different species of butterfly.

A Red Lacewing Butterfly has a small body, made up of three parts – the head, abdomen and thorax. A Red Lacewing Butterfly has two large eyes, which are made up of many small parts which are called "compound eyes".
A Red Lacewing Butterfly has two antenna's on the top of their heads, which they use to smell, hear and feel. A Red Lacewing Butterfly’s mouth is a long tube a "proboscis" - a long narrow tube in their mouth that looks like a straw when its done eating, it rolls the tube back up.

A Red Lacewing Butterfly has three pairs of legs and their feet have little claws that help them stand on flowers. The Red Lacewing Butterfly's wings are made up of hard tubes that are covered with a thin tissue. The butterfly's wings are covered with fine dusty like scales. A Red Lacewing Butterfly has four brightly colored wings having distinctive patterns made up of tiny scales. The bright patterns scales sometimes have hidden ultraviolet patterns for attracting mates. The bright colors are also used as camouflage to hide them or scare off predictors.

Red Lacewing Butterfly can see yellow, green, and red. An adult butterfly average life span is from a week to a year
The top flight speed of a Red Lacewing Butterfly is 12 miles per hour and some moths can fly up to 25 miles per hour.
A Red Lacewing Butterfly is cold-blooded, which means the body temperature is not regulated on its own. A Red Lacewing Butterfly can't fly or eat if their body temperature is below 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 cel). Butterfly's are often basking in the sun with their wings open to gain heat and than the veins in the wings carry the heat to the body.