Types of Purple Butterflies

Purple butterflies, which can be found across the world, can be especially striking. A large percentage of purple butterflies come from the Nymphalidae family, known for its colorful variety. Most of the examples here are not pure purple; rather, they contain purple amid other colorations and patterns.

While it would be impractical to list every specimen, here are a few of the more stunning examples, broken down by region.

  1. North American Purple Butterflies

    • Although the majority of the world's butterflies are found in North America, purple is a rare shade among these domestic species.

      The Great Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina) is also known as Blue Moon. These butterflies come in a variety of colors; some have large blue-and-purple spots on their black wings.

      The Red-Spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis astyanax) typically features both colors suggested by the name.

      The Great Purple Hairstreak (Atlides halesus) is, beyond its punk-rock name, primarily blue with red spots. This can nonetheless create a purple hue and overlapping of color to various shades.

      The Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) is a black-winged species with a row of blue dots on the edge of its wings. It is also found in Europe.

    European, Asian, and African Purple Butterflies

    • Butterflies come in a variety of colors.

      The Purple Emperor (Apatura iris) is a species found in Europe, especially Britain. This butterfly has iridescent wings that show purple in the sunlight.

      The Queen-Purple-Tip (Colotis regina) is white with contrasting violet-purple tips on its wings. It is found in Africa and Asia.

      The Purple Swallowtail (Graphium weiskei) sports a beautiful spectral pattern of colors on its unusually shaped wings. It is exclusively found in Papua New Guinea.

      The Archduke butterfly (Lexias pardalis) is noted for the purple pattern on the lower edges of its wings. It is a resident of southeast Asia.

      The Purple Mort Bleu (Eryphanis polyxena) is chiefly bluish in color, though there are varieties in which the blue color tends toward the purple/indigo side of the spectrum. It is found in Europe.

      The Eastern Purple Crow (Euploea tulliolus) is ruddy purple in color. It is found in eastern Asia and the Pacific region, especially Australia.

    South American Purple Butterflies

    • The color of the caterpillar is not indicative of the color of the adult butterfly it will become.

      The Purple-topped Euselasia (Euselasia regipennis eupepla) is one of the more stunningly purple varieties of any insect.

      The Purple-washed Euselasia (Euselasia euoras) has a brilliant fleck of purple on its lower set of wings; it is also found in Costa Rica.

      The Glowing Euselasia (Euselasia leucophryna) has a body and wings that are pale purple.