Ocybadistes ardea Bethune-Baker, 1906
Orange Grass-dart
 (one synonym : Apaustus heterobatha Lower, 1908)
HESPERIINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

This Caterpillar is green with a dark dorsal line and a pale tail. The head is black and develops six white blotches. The caterpillar probably feeds on various Grasses ( POACEAE ), and in particular is known to feed on

  • Australian Basket Grass ( Oplismenus aemulus ).


    (Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

    The adult butterfly has brown wing upper surfaces, with orange markings. The undersides are similar but more yellowish. The males have a black patch near the middle of the upper surface of each forewing. The adults have a wingspan of about 2 cms.


    (Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

    The species is found as several subspecies in

  • Indonesia,
  • New Guinea,

    and in Australia along the coast of

  • Queensland.


    underside
    (Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

    Further reading :

    Andrew Atkins,
    The life history of the skipper butterfly Ocybadistes ardea Bethune Baker, 1906 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from southern Queensland,
    Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 60 (March 2011), pp. 1, 4-9.

    George Thomas Bethune-Baker,
    New African Lepidoptera,
    The Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
    Series 7, Volume 18, Number 107 (1906), p. 343.

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 207-208.

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    (written 16 November 1998, updated 14 August 2024)