Telicota ancilla

Telicota ancilla (Herrich-Schaffer, 1869)
Greenish Darter
HESPERIINAE , HESPERIIDAE

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

(updated 14 November 2001)

Telicota ancilla
Female
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

This Caterpillar hatches from an egg laid singly on a foodplant leaf.

The Caterpillar is initially yellowish-green with dark lines along the body, and later becomes reddish-brown. The anal segment is unusual in being rather flat, and usually has a black mak on it. The Caterpillar lives by day in a cylindrical shelter made by joining leaves together with silk, and by night emerges to feed on the leaves just below its shelter. It feeds on various grasses and sedges, such as :

Saw Grass ( Gahnia aspera, CYPERACEAE ),

Blady Grass ( Imperata cylindrica, POACEAE ),

Common Reed ( Phragmites australis, POACEAE ),

Johnson Grass ( Sorghum halepense, POACEAE ), and

Vasey Grass ( Paspalum urvillei, POACEAE ).

The Caterpillar leaves its shelter to pupate, typically pupating in a curled leaf on the ground.

Male
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The adults are brown with orange patches. The males have a prominent grey line across part of each forewing. The undersides are greenish-yellow, with orange and brown patches. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.

Female, underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

This species occurs as over much of south-east Asia, including:

Hong Kong, and

India,

and has two subspecies in Australia :

baudina in north Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and

ancilla along the length of the eastern seaboard, including: New South Wales.

Male, underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)