Map (Araschnia levana) lives in temperate meadows across Central and eastern Europe. It feeds on nettles and hops.
Fascinating facts about the Map
- From Spain to Japan, the map spans a continent-wide range, yet its recent history reads like a butterfly road-trip. In Germany it lingered locally until the 1930s, then surged north-west across Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and the Dutch coast in the latter half of the 20th century. It was recorded in Jutland as early as 1881, reached the Danish limit of Falster, Lolland and Zealand by 1955, arrived in Sweden during the 1970s and first appeared in Finland on 30 May 1973.
- Map butterflies lay their eggs in tidy vertical strings on the undersides of stinging nettles, a strategy that mimics the plant's tiny flowers. By resembling harmless nettle blossoms, the egg strings slip past predators that would otherwise eat them. This camouflage, combined with the larvae's gregarious feeding, before the caterpillars hibernate as pupae. The trick highlights how even the earliest life stage can exploit host-plant appearance to avoid detection.
- Moist, nettle-rich habitats are the map's sweet spot: open forests, forest edges and transitional moors provide the humidity and shade the caterpillars crave, while adult butterflies need abundant flowering perennials. The species stays low in the landscape, rarely climbing above 1000 meters, and prefers the flat and hilly lowlands.
- Despite a brief dip in some European regions, the map has enjoyed a century-long rise in populated areas. Over more than 100 years, numbers have generally increased.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.
At a glance
RangeCentral and eastern Europe
HabitatTemperate meadows
DietNettles and hops
About the Map
In the dappled light of a forest glade, the Map butterfly dances on iridescent wings, its delicate form tracing an intricate path through the air as it sips nectar from a patch of colorful wildflowers. With each beat of its wings, the Map's striking eyespots seem to shimmer and pulse, a mesmerizing display of evolutionary artistry that has captivated the imagination of naturalists for centuries. As it flutters from bloom to bloom, the Map's very existence is a testament to the breathtaking beauty and diversity of the natural world.
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