Red Lacewing
Cethosia biblis
Red Lacewing · Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden · 7 February 2026
A Red Lacewing in the butterfly house at Fairchild, an Asian species, not a Central American one like most of the others here. In the wild it is a butterfly of forest edges and gardens from India to China, where the caterpillars feed on passionflower vines.
A mixed butterfly house draws its stock from wherever pupae are farmed, not from any single ecosystem. The black zigzag border scalloped like lace along the hindwing margin gives the group its common name. The caterpillars keep the passionflower's cyanide, which is what the red is warning about.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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