Badamia exclamationis

Badamia exclamationis (Fabricius, 1775)
(one synonym : Hesperia ericus)
Brown Awl
HESPERIIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

(updated 29 April 2008)

(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney)

This Caterpillar is smooth and dull yellow, with dark broken dorsolateral lines. The head is yellow with two transverse black stripes. It lives on its food plant in a shelter made from a leaf, folded over and held with silk. It feeds on:

False Almond ( Terminalia catappa, COMBRETACEAE ),

Yellow Wood ( Terminalia oblongata, COMBRETACEAE ),

Australian Damson ( Terminalia seriocarpa, COMBRETACEAE ),

Pongam ( Pongamia pinnata ), FABACEAE ) and

Rhyssopterys timorensis ( MALPIGHIACEAE ),

living in a partly folded leaf, open ended like a cup. The Caterpillar grows to a length of about 5 cms.

It pupates in a partly folded leaf, often away from the food plant.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Museum Victoria)

The adult butterfly is dark brown with a series of white spots on each fore wing. The hindwings are unusual, in having a recurve in the hind margin. The wing span is about 5 cms.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Museum Victoria)

The eggs are cream coloured and hemispherical. They are laid singly on young shoots of a food plant.

Samoa, 1986

The species is found from Sri-Lanka to the Philippines, including :

New South Wales,

Queensland

Victoria, and

Western Australia.

The species is famous for its extensive migrations, southward some years, and northward in others.