Chestnut tiger
Amazing fact
Young chestnut tiger caterpillars bite a circle into a leaf before eating inside it.
森林総合研究所 多摩森林科学園
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Young chestnut tiger caterpillars bite a circle into a leaf before eating inside it.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Chestnut tiger
- Scientific name
- Parantica sita
- Japanese name
- アサギマダラ
- Group
- Insects
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Family
- Nymphalidae
- Genus
- Parantica
Where the name “Chestnut tiger” comes from
Its Japanese name comes from the pale blue-green mottling on its wings.
三重県総合博物館A butterfly of the brush-footed butterfly family found in Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa.
Its caterpillars eat plants such as kijoran, kamomezuru and ikema.
How the Chestnut tiger lives
In spring, they gradually move north from the direction of Taiwan and Okinawa. Adults gather on thoroughwort and thistle flowers to drink nectar. In Mie Prefecture, they mainly live in the mountains in summer and descend to lower ground in autumn. In autumn, they migrate as far as Okinawa and Taiwan.
三重県総合博物館宇久井ビジターセンターBasic data
- Size
- 55–60 mm
- Range
- Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa
Where the Chestnut tiger has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- まちだエコライフ推進公社 — まちだのいきものたち アサギマダラChecked: 2026-11-03
- 三重県総合博物館 — アサギマダラ（Parantica sita）Checked: 2026-11-07
- 森林総合研究所 多摩森林科学園 — アサギマダラChecked: 2026-11-07
- 宇久井ビジターセンター — アサギマダラChecked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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