Tellervo zoilus

Tellervo zoilus (Fabricius, 1775)
Cairns Hamadryad
TELLERVINAE , NYMPHALIDAE

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

(updated 10 May 2008)

(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney)

These Caterpillars are grey with white transverse bands, a black head, and two yellow spots on the tail. They also have two long filaments projecting from the thorax. They feed on the soft new shoots of vines from the plant family APOCYNACEAE, including :

Possum Scrub ( Parsonsia ferruginea ),

Silkpod ( Parsonsia latifolia ), and

Strawpod ( Parsonsia straminea ).

Each Caterpillar appears to be territorial, marking out its intended food leaf with regurgitated fluid before feeding on it. Any adjacent Caterpillars are jostled away with rapid sideways head movements.

The pupa is a pale shiny green colour with black spots. It is suspended head downward from a cremaster usually from the underside of a leaf.

(Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

The adult butterflies are black with white spots on the forewings, and a large white patch on each hindwing. The undersieds are similar but have more white spots. They have a wingspan of about 4 cms.

underside
(Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

The eggs are white and laid singly on a foodplant.

The species is found as several races in New Guinea and adjacent islands, as well as :

gelo on Cape York, and

zoilus from Cooktown to Townsville.