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Peacock butterfly as seen feeding on a summer lilac in Maastricht, Netherlands on September 6, 2023. Aglais io, the European peacock or the peacock butterfly, is a colourful butterfly, found in Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan. It was formerly classified as the only member of the genus Inachis. The butterfly has a wingspan of 50 to 55 millimetres, while the base colour of the wings is a rusty red, and at each wingtip it bears a distinctive, black, blue and yellow eyespot. The underside is a cryptically coloured dark brown or black. There are two subspecies: A. io caucasica found in Azerbaijan, and A. io geisha, found in Japan and the Russian Far East. The plant Summer Lilac, the Buddleja davidii or butterfly-bush, or orange eye, is a species of flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae, native to Sichuan and Hubei provinces in central China, and also Japan, while it is widely used as an ornamental plant, and many named varieties are in cultivation. Buddleja davidii has been designated as an invasive species or a "noxious weed" in a number of countries in temperate regions, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)
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