Telicota augias (Linnaeus, 1763)
Bright-orange Darter
 (previously known as Papilio augias)
HESPERIINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Telicota augias
(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney, New South Wales)

This Caterpillar is green with a brown head and a faint line along the back The Caterpillar grows to a length of about 3cms. It feeds on :

  • Supplejack ( Flagellaria indica, COMMELINACEAE ).

    The Caterpillar constructs a shelter out of leaves joined with silk, resting head downward in this by day, emerging to feed at night. The shelter is often constructed near the tip of the leaf on which it feeds, leaving only the midrib to support the shelter.

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

    The butterflies of this species are brown with orange markings. The undersides are paler. The males have a long grey patch of the top of each forewing. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 3 cms.

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

    This species as seven subspecies across south-east Asia, including:

  • India,
  • Malaysia,
  • Taiwan, and
  • Thailand.

    Two more subspecies have been recognised in Australia:

    krefftii (Macleay, 1866), in
  • the north of Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,,
  • Queensland, and in
  • New South Wales,
    • and argilus Waterhouse, 1933, in
  • Northern Territory, and
  • north Queensland.

    • Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 226-227.

    Carl Linnaeus,
    Centuria Insectorum,
    Amoenitates Academicae,
    Volume 6 (1763), p. 410, No. 80.

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    (updated 25 October 2009, 5 January 2024)