Tisiphone abeona

Tisiphone abeona (Donovan, 1805)
(one synonym : Xenica zelinde)
Swordgrass Brown
SATYRINAE , NYMPHALIDAE

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

(updated 23 June 2008)

Tisiphone abeona
final instar
(Photo: courtesy of Ross Kendall,
Butterfly Encounters, Indooroopilly, Queensland)

These Caterpillars are green with indistinct longitudinal lines. Initially they are sparsely covered in long thin hairs, but later instars are sort of fuzzy. They have a forked tail which is quite harmless.

The Caterpillars feed on various species of :

Swordgrass ( Gahnia species, CYPERACEAE )

which are tall sedges with sharply edged leaves. The Caterpillars grow to a length of about 6 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of R.P. Field; © Museum Victoria)

The pupa is green with a yellow line around the developing wings. It is suspended head down, by a cremaster, from a leaf of its food plant.

(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The wings of the adult butterflies are brown with a broad yellow stripe diagonally across each forewing. The forewings also each have two eyespots, one large and one small, and the hind wings have one eyespot each.

Underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The undersides are similar, except that each wing has two eyespots. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 6 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Anthea Flemming)

The species is found along the south-eastern coastal strip of Australia, from Gympie, through Victoria, to Adelaide, in which area several subspecies have been recognised :

abeona in New South Wales south of the Hunter River,

albifascia in Victoria,

antoni in South Australia,

aurelia in mid New South Wales,

joanna in New South Wales,

morrisi in coastal northern New South Wales,

regalis in the mountains of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, and

rawnsleyi in coastal southern Queensland.

( Australia Post, 1981)