Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Peter R. Samson,
Bureau of Sugar Experiment Station, Mackay.
(updated 22 June 2005)
(Photo: courtesy of David Johnston,
Jove Creative Publishing P/L)
These Caterpillars are pink with a green thorax and anal plate. They have a dark green line down the back. The live in a shelter made by cutting a piece of leaf and folding it over and joining it with silk. They cling to the roof of their shelter upside-down by day, coming out to feed in the evening. They feed on:
The Caterpillars pupate in their shelte.
The adult butterflies are rusty brown, with blurred dark markings and pale yellow spots on the wings. The undersides are similar to the upper surfaces. The eyes are red. The wings have a purple suffusion, especially the females, which are usually larger than the males. The males have a wingspan of about 4 cms. The females have a wingspn of about 6 cms.
The eggs are brown and dome shape, laid singly on the upper surface of a leaf of a food plant.
This species occurs sporadically over much of Queensland, (including the Cape York Peninsula), the Northern Teritory, and there have been some specimens taken in the north of Western Australia.
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby, Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 64-65.
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