Bug FAQMeadow Brown
Maniola jurtina · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae
Also called: Meadow Brown Butterfly
The meadow brown (Maniola jurtina) is a small butterfly found in Europe, parts of Asia, North Africa and the Canary Islands, typically living at forest edges, meadows and cultivated lands up to 2,000 m altitude. Males have a uniform light-brown upper wing with a single black eye-spot surrounded by white, while females show a tawny patch around the same spot; the undersides are ochre with dark borders in males and have an orange band in females. Larvae feed on grasses, adults sip nectar from many flowering plants, and the species produces one generation per year with adults appearing from spring through autumn.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Males are uniformly light brown on the upper side with a black eye-spot edged in white at the forewing tip; females have a tawny patch surrounding that spot. The underside of the forewing is ochre with dark beige borders and the same eye-spot in males; females have a grey-brown hindwing with an orange band.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They live in forest edges, forest-steppe, meadow-steppe, cultivated fields, parks and orchards up to 2,000 m elevation.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Caterpillars eat grasses. Adults drink nectar from many plants such as knapweed, thistles, dandelion relatives, heather, brambles, hogweed, oregano, ragwort, scabious, woodruff, privet and meadowsweet.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The species has one generation per year, with adults emerging over a long period in spring, summer and autumn. Some individuals develop quickly as larvae and become late-season adults, a trait controlled by genetics.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults can be seen from spring through autumn.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
A more problematic group is the cryptic Maniola species complex, including M. telmessia, M. nurag, M. chia, M. halicarnassus and M. cypricola.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Same family (Nymphalidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow_brown
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.