Filming VarWild: Aglais io

The Peacock Butterfly (Aglais io Linnaeus, 1758)

The Peacock Butterfly (family Nymphalidae), flies in two generations in the Midi, between the end of May and November and then diapauses until February. The butterfly overwinters, solitary or in a small group, in tree hollows, heaps of wood, crevices of rocks, ruins, barns, cellars or attics. When disturbed, it opens its wings abruptly and exposes the eyespots, thus deterring a predator or other. The female lays her green-pale eggs in series, amassed on the underside of nettle leaves.

---

Parasitiods

Telenomus kolbei parasitizes the eggs of Aglais io.

Identified by Dr. Norman F. Johnson