Bug FAQBrown Grass Jewel
Freyeria trochylus · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Lycaenidae
Also called: Grass Jewel, Orange-spotted Grass Jewel
The grass jewel is a tiny blue-family butterfly about a quarter of an inch long as a larva and slightly smaller as a pupa. Males have brown upper wings; the hindwing shows a row of black spots with pale ochre crowns and white edging on the rear spots. It lives in Africa, parts of the Arabian Peninsula, southern Europe, India and southern Asia.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Male upper side is brown, varying in shade. Forewing is uniform with a faint dark line near the edge; hindwing has a sub-terminal series of black spots topped with pale ochre, the rear four edged in white, and a thin black line at the margin.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Full-grown larva is just over a quarter of an inch long and shaped like a typical lycaenid caterpillar. Pupa measures about three-sixteenths of an inch, pale green and of the usual lycaenid form.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found across Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, southern Europe, India and southern Asia.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Larvae feed on Heliotropium strigosum and also on Goniogyna hirta. The associated ant species is Pheidole quadrispinosa.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The larva grows to just over a quarter of an inch and is onisciform; the pupa is about three-sixteenths of an inch, pale green, and lycaenid-shaped.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Belongs to the lycaenid (blues) family and occurs in the same regions listed for its habitat.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
What plants do the caterpillars eat?
They feed on Heliotropium strigosum and Goniogyna hirta.
Source: Wikipedia
Where is the grass jewel butterfly found?
It occurs in Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, southern Europe, India and southern Asia.
Source: Wikipedia
What does the male grass jewel look like?
The male’s upper wings are brown, and the hindwing has a row of black spots with pale ochre crowns and white edging on the rear spots.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Lycaenidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyeria_trochylus
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.