Cupha prosope

Cupha prosope (Fabricius, 1775)
(one synonym: Messaras susanna)
Australian Rustic
ARGYNNINAE , NYMPHALIDAE

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

(updated 23 June 2008)

Cupha prosope
(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The Caterpillars of this species feed on various species from the plant family FLACOURTIACEAE, including :

the introduced Govenors Plum ( Flacourtia indica ),

and the Australian natives:

Coffee Plum ( Flacourtia jangomas ),

Flintwood ( Scolopia braunii ),

Xylosma ovatum, and

Xylosma terraereginae.

The Caterpillar is greenish brown with an orange head, and a yellow stripe along each side. The body is covered sparsely in branched spines.

Empty pupal case
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The pupa is greenish mottled with silver, and has a number of spines. It hangs obliquely from a silk cremaster head downward on the foodplant.

(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda)

The wings of the adult butterflies are orange with a wide brown area by the body and an equally wide darker brown area along the margins. The wing undersides have a similar paler pattern, and additionally each wing has a subterminal arc of dark spots. The last spot at the tornus of each forewing is larger than the rest.

Underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The eggs are greenish yellow and spherical. They are laid singly on or near young leaves of a foodplant.

Cambodia, 1990
(Photo: courtesy of Poppe Stamps)

The species is found in

New Guinea and adjacent islands, and

north-eastern coastal strip of Queensland, Australia.