Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 13 May 2008)
(Photo: courtesy of
Martin Purvis,
taken in the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney)
These Caterpillars are green with a dark red line along the back, and light and dark lines partway along the sides. The sides are hairy, and the head pale brown. The Caterpillars grow to a length of about 0.7 cm. They feed inside the fruits of :
exuding frass from the fruit entrance hole.
The pupa is hairy and green, and has a length of about 0.7 cm. It is attached to a stem or the underside of a leaf of a foodplant.
The adult butterflies on top are dark brown fading to fawn on toward the wing bases, the males having a purple iridescence.
Underneath, both sexes are pale grey, with multiple arcs of brown dashes. The butterflies have a wing span of about 1.5 cms.
The eggs are pale green, round, and flattened, with a diameter of about 0.5 mm. They are laid singly on buds and flowers of a foodplant.
The species occurs as several races throughout tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, and Oceania, including :
and the subspecies attenuata occurs along the north and east coasts of Australia, including
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 841-842.
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