Telicota anisodesma Lower, 1911
Southern Large Darter
HESPERIINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

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

These Caterpillars hatch from eggs that are white with pink markings, laid singly on foodplant leaves.

The caterpillars are green with a dark line along the back, and brown head which has a mark like an upside-down 'V'. The caterpillars live in a cylindrical shelter made by rolling a leaf tip, leaving an entrance at the bottom. They feed nocturnally on various rainforest species such as :

  • Supplejack ( Flagellaria indica, COMMELINACEAE ).

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

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

    The adults are brown, with orange patches. The males have bigger orange patches than the females, and also have a greyl line across part of each forewing. The undersides of the forewings are similar to their upper surfaces, but the hindwings are a more uniform pale brown underneath. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.

    This species is rare, and occurs in

  • Queensland and
  • New South Wales.


    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 124-225.

    Oswald B. Lower,
    Revision of the Australian Hesperiadae,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 35 (1911), pp. 157-158, No. 81.


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    (updated 25 October 2009, 5 January 2024)