Large tortoiseshell

Weight

Not recorded

Length

Not recorded

Wingspan

5.6 cm – 6.8 cm

Lifespan

Not recorded

Diet

Scavenger

Main food

flowers

Habitat

forest, human_modified, shrubland

Young per litter or clutch

Not recorded

Active

By day (diurnal)

On the wing

January, March to September

Generations a year

One

Larval food plants

Rosaceae family

Conservation status

Not recorded

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumArthropoda
3. classInsecta
4. orderLepidoptera
5. familyNymphalidae
6. genusNymphalis
7. SpeciesNymphalis polychloros (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Aglais polychloros, Eugonia pallida, Eugonia polychloros, Eugonia quinquepunctata, Nymphalis binaria, Nymphalis concolor, Nymphalis flavomaculata, Nymphalis longipuncta, Nymphalis magnipuncta, Nymphalis nubilata, Nymphalis parvipuncta, Nymphalis polychloros polychloros, Nymphalis polychloros pulchior, Nymphalis postnigrescens, Nymphalis vigens, Papilio polychloros, Vanessa cassabiensis, Vanessa circumpunctata, Vanessa dixeyi, Vanessa erythromelas, Vanessa extincta, Vanessa extrema, Vanessa nigroflava, Vanessa orichalcea, Vanessa polychloros, Vanessa polychloros pulchior, Vanessa punctata, Vanessa pyromelas, Vanessa pyrrhomelaena, Vanessa supinskia, Vanessa testudo, Vanessa xanthochloros

Catalogue of Life

LC, Least Concern

Mourning cloak

Nymphalis antiopa

Nymphalidae

S

Scarce tortoiseshell

Nymphalis xanthomelas

NymphalidaeNo free photo yet

C

California tortoiseshell

Nymphalis californica

NymphalidaeNo free photo yet

N

Nymphalis comma

NymphalidaeNo free photo yet

N

Nymphalis faunus

NymphalidaeNo free photo yet

N

Nymphalis interrogationis

NymphalidaeNo free photo yet

CompareLarge tortoiseshell vs Mourning cloakLarge tortoiseshell vs Scarce tortoiseshellLarge tortoiseshell vs California tortoiseshellLarge tortoiseshell vs Nymphalis comma

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@misc{large_tortoiseshell_2026,
  title = {Large tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/large-tortoiseshell},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}