---
title: "European Peacock Butterfly"
description: "Aglais io — Insetti e ragni. Aglais io, the European peacock, or the peacock butterfly, is a colourful butterfly, found in Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/european-peacock-butterfly
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# European Peacock Butterfly

> Aglais io — Insetti e ragni. Aglais io, the European peacock, or the peacock butterfly, is a colourful butterfly, found in Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan.

- Scientific name: *Aglais io*
- Category: `insects` (Insetti e ragni)
- Habitats: `urban` (Città e giardini)
- iNaturalist observations: 138104
- Wikidata: [Q158699](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q158699)
- iNaturalist taxon: [207977](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/207977)

## Names

- en: European Peacock Butterfly
- de: Tagpfauenauge
- es: Mariposa pavorreal
- fr: Paon-du-jour
- nl: Dagpauwoog
- pt: Inachis io
- pl: Rusałka pawik

## Countries with the most observations

GB (29822), DE (22117), RU (12356), FR (8839), CZ (6307), AT (6103), DK (5884), PL (5564), IT (4266), NL (3802), ES (2859), FI (2637)

## Summary

Aglais io, the European peacock, or the peacock butterfly, is a colourful butterfly, found in Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan. The peacock butterfly is resident in much of its range, often wintering in buildings or trees. It therefore often appears quite early in spring.
The peacock butterfly has figured in research in which the role of eyespots as an anti-predator mechanism has been investigated. The peacock is expanding its range and is not known to be threatened.
In a 2026 poll conducted by Butterfly Conservation, the peacock butterfly was declared Britain's favourite butterfly.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aglais_io

## Photo

![European Peacock Butterfly](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/european-peacock-butterfly/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jean-Paul Boerekamps · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/267524228

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/european-peacock-butterfly?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).