Trapezites heteromacula Meyrick & Lower, 1902
Small Orange Skipper
(erroneously : Trapezites heliomacula)
TRAPEZITINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Trapezites heteromacula
(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

These Caterpillars are greyish green with several dark lines along the body. The first and last segments are pinkish fawn. The head is black with rusty brown spots. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 cms. It feeds on various species of Mat-rush (ASPARAGACEAE) including :

  • Mat-Rush ( Lomandra filiformis ), and
  • Spiny Headed Mat Rush ( Lomandra longifolia ).

    The caterpillars feed nocturnally, resting by day in leaves joined or rolled and secured with silk, at the base of the foodplant.

    Pupation occurs within the shelter.

    Trapezites heteromacula
    (Picture: courtesy of CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences)

    The adults on top are brown with yellow and orange patches. Underneath, the forewings are yellow with black and white patches. The hindwings are yellow with several white spots each outlined in black. The antennae have yellow tips. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 3 cms.

    The species is found in

  • Queensland.


    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 109.

    Edward Meyrick & Oswald B. Lower,
    Revision of the Australian Hesperiadae,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 26, Part 2 (1902), pp. 84-85, No. 40.


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    (updated 18 November 2009, 5 January 2024)