They acquired their common name due to the unusual way that males produce a "cracking" sound as part of their territorial displays.

The speckled species of Hamadryas are often hard to distinguish, and most often these butterflies have to be examined as set specimens.

[1] The swollen Sc vein is present exclusively in Hamadryas; has a serpentine structure inside and probably acts as resonance box.

Growth of the sound apparatus may be checked by its effect on flight capacity, physiological costs, and ecological reasons.

Severe wing damage, common in wild Hamadryas, almost never affects the section with the sound mechanism.

More than 50 species of lepidopterans (11 families) emit sound which can be audible to humans 30 meters (100 ft) away.

Instead, cracker butterflies feed on rotting fruit, sap from leguminous trees, and animal dung.

Cracker butterflies undergo metamorphosis just like any other species of Lepidoptera, but lay their eggs only on the host plants that are members of the euphorbia family, Dalechampia spp.