Habitat
Tropical rainforest
Amazon Heroes collection
Blue Morpho Butterfly
Scientific name: Morpho menelaus
Try this
Mini mission: color the wings to show how the blue seems to shimmer in light.
Diet
Caterpillars eat leaves; adult butterflies mostly drink fruit juice and tree sap.
Ecosystem role
Part of the rainforest food web; its bright, flashing color may help confuse predators in flight.
Fun fact
The blue morpho's wings look blue because of how light bounces off tiny scales, not because of blue pigment.
Where it lives
- Continent
- Americas
- Region
- Central and South America, including the Amazon
- Environment
- Tropical rainforest
Did you know?
- When a blue morpho closes its wings, the underside is dull brown with eyespots that can startle predators -- a big contrast to the bright blue topside.
- The blue morpho is one of the largest butterflies in the world, with wings that can stretch up to 20 cm (about 8 inches) across.
Test what you learned
Why do blue morpho wings look blue?
What do adult blue morpho butterflies mostly eat?
What's special about the underside of a blue morpho's wings?
