Nymphalidae : Nymphalinae
Peacock
AGLAIS io (Linnaeus, 1758)
Peacock
AGLAIS io (Linnaeus, 1758)
Life Cycle Guide
Description
Wingspan: Male : 45-56mm : Female : 45-62mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe-Except some Northern and Southern Areas : Caucasus : Transcaucasia : North Turkey : Iran : Temperate Asia : Japan.
UK Distribution: Common throughout Southern Britain and Ireland : Rare in the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles.
UK Conservation Status -
Flight Period: The North : Late June-October & March-May-Univoltine : The South : Bivoltine.
Habitat: All habitat types providing larval food plant.
Overwinters as: Hibernates as adult
Ovum: Like other nymphalids the female is careful when selecting the egg laying site,choosing vigorous clumps of Nettles where she hangs,curving her abdomen,to deposit up to 300-550 sticky eggs on the underside of the leaves where they remain for one to two weeks.
Larva: 38-42mm fully grown : May-July : The tiny caterpillars upon hatching live gregariously, producing a communal silk web over the top of the Nettle leaves where they remain to feed. As the food supply is exhausted this procedure is repeated until as the caterpillar grows they feed individually in the open.
The larva is black with spikes and easy to find at all stages. For a short time after moulting the larvae have a white head and white spines(see larvae photo 2) and like the Small Tortoiseshell larva, they shake their heads in unison when disturbed,presumably to deter predators.
Pupa: Like the Small Tortoiseshell pupa,the location of the site dictates the colour of the pupa.
Overwinters as: Hibernating adult
Observations: The Peacock is our longest lived butterfly appearing during the summer months from late June to October or November before hibernating during the winter months in out houses,garages,log piles,holes in trees before being awoken in spring, whereby they survive from March to the end of May,the duration lasting 11 months. Although they spend a possible five months hibernating the lifespan is quite remarkable when considering some butterflies only last days.
The beautiful Peacock named from the four eyespots on forewing and hindwing is a common sight in gardens in the high summer months where they can be seen avidly feeding on their favourite garden plant,namely the Buddleia davidii.
The Peacock at rest with closed wings is black, which provides camouflage during hibernation but should the butterfly be awoken from its sleep by a small animal the sudden flash of four eyespots as it opens it wings must act as a deterrent.(See photo 1)
Possibly due to climate change the Peacock has expanded north further into Scotland in recent years as well as increasing in numbers.
Worldwide Distribution: Europe-Except some Northern and Southern Areas : Caucasus : Transcaucasia : North Turkey : Iran : Temperate Asia : Japan.
UK Distribution: Common throughout Southern Britain and Ireland : Rare in the Scottish Highlands and Western Isles.
UK Conservation Status -
- Least Concern - Red List
- Least Concern
- Papilio io (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Papilio urticae (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Sweden
Flight Period: The North : Late June-October & March-May-Univoltine : The South : Bivoltine.
Habitat: All habitat types providing larval food plant.
Overwinters as: Hibernates as adult
Ovum: Like other nymphalids the female is careful when selecting the egg laying site,choosing vigorous clumps of Nettles where she hangs,curving her abdomen,to deposit up to 300-550 sticky eggs on the underside of the leaves where they remain for one to two weeks.
Larva: 38-42mm fully grown : May-July : The tiny caterpillars upon hatching live gregariously, producing a communal silk web over the top of the Nettle leaves where they remain to feed. As the food supply is exhausted this procedure is repeated until as the caterpillar grows they feed individually in the open.
The larva is black with spikes and easy to find at all stages. For a short time after moulting the larvae have a white head and white spines(see larvae photo 2) and like the Small Tortoiseshell larva, they shake their heads in unison when disturbed,presumably to deter predators.
Pupa: Like the Small Tortoiseshell pupa,the location of the site dictates the colour of the pupa.
Overwinters as: Hibernating adult
Observations: The Peacock is our longest lived butterfly appearing during the summer months from late June to October or November before hibernating during the winter months in out houses,garages,log piles,holes in trees before being awoken in spring, whereby they survive from March to the end of May,the duration lasting 11 months. Although they spend a possible five months hibernating the lifespan is quite remarkable when considering some butterflies only last days.
The beautiful Peacock named from the four eyespots on forewing and hindwing is a common sight in gardens in the high summer months where they can be seen avidly feeding on their favourite garden plant,namely the Buddleia davidii.
The Peacock at rest with closed wings is black, which provides camouflage during hibernation but should the butterfly be awoken from its sleep by a small animal the sudden flash of four eyespots as it opens it wings must act as a deterrent.(See photo 1)
Possibly due to climate change the Peacock has expanded north further into Scotland in recent years as well as increasing in numbers.
Photo Gallery : Click photo for larger image
Peacock Larvae
Larval Food Plants Worldwide
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website
where further information like photos,physical
characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal
uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
- Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
- Cannabidaceae - Hemp/Hop Family
- Humulus lupulus - Hop
- Urticaeae - Nettle Family
- Parietaria officinalis - Pellitory Of The Wall
- Urtica angustifolia - No Common name
- Urtica dioica - Stinging Nettle - Common Nettle
- Note - Larvae also feed on the following plant families
- Rosaceae - Rubus - Raspberry,Blackberry etc
Larval Food Plants
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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily: Tribe: Genus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species-AGLAIS: Original Species Name: Species Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: Aberrations: Subspecies: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Papilionoidea Nymphalidae Nymphalinae Nymphalini AGLAIS Dalman, 1816 Aglais io (Linnaeus, 1758) - Papilio urticae (Linnaeus, 1758) - PAPILIO io (Linnaeus, 1758) = Vanessa io Linnaeus, 1758 = Inachis io Linnaeus, 1758 = Nymphalis io Linnaeus, 1758 = Papilio io Linnaeus, 1758 = Nymphalis ioides Ochsenheimer, 1807 = Nymphalis sardoa Staudinger, 1871 = Inachis exoculata Weymer, 1878 = Papilio dyophtalmica Garbini, 1883) = Inachis veronensis Garbini, 1883 = Inachis belisaria Oberthür, 1889 = Vanessa fischeri Standfuss, 1892 = Vanessa calorefacta Urech, 1897 = Vanessa jocaste Urech, 1897 = Vanessa narses Schultz, 1899 = Vaness pavo Stichel, 1902 = Vanessa cyanosticta Raynor, 1903 = Vanessa fulva Oudemans, 1905 = Vanessa basi-obscura Reuss, 1911 = Vanessa exmaculata Reuss, 1911 = Vanessa lucidocellata Reuss, 1911 = Vanessa magnimaculata Reuss, 1911 = Vanessa marginalis Reuss, 1911 = Vanessa marginimaculata-obscura Reuss, 1911 - Syst. Nat. (Edn 10) 1 : Title page : p.472 n.88 - Sweden - I.i. belisaria Oberthür, 1889 I.i. exoculata Weymer, 1878 I.i. iodes Ochsenheimer, 1807 I.i. nigrocellata Reuss, 1911 I.i. pallens Knoch, 1927 I.i. prochnovi Pronin, 1925 I.i. semi-ocellata Frohawk, 1938 I.i. splendens Reuss, 1909 I.i. viridiocellata Reuss, 1910 - I.i.io-as specie page I.i.caucasica Jachontov, 1912-Azerbaijan I.i.geisha Stichel, 1908-Japan : Far East |