Allora major (Rothschild, 1915)
Greater Peacock Awl
 (previously known as Hasora major)
COELIADINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Allora major
(Photo: courtesy of C. Redmond and Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The Caterpillars of this species are yellow with a brown band around each segment. The caterpillars are thought to feed on :

  • Cribwood ( Corynocarpus cribbianus, CELASTRACEAE ).

    Allora major
    (Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

    The adult butterflies on top are black with a shiny blue-green area toward the base of each wing. The undersides are similar but with some white spots. The male butterflies have a wingspan of about 4 cms. The females have a wingspan of about 5 cms.

    Allora major
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay)

    This species is found as several subspecies in the south-west Pacific, including

  • Indonesia,
  • New Guinea,

    and in Australia in

  • Cape York in Queensland.

    Its conservation status has been studied, and the species is thought to be not threatened.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 77-78.

    Lionel Walter Rothschild,
    Macrolepidoptera,
    Lepidoptera of the British Ornithologists' Union and Wollaston Expeditions in the Snow Mountains, Southern Dutch New Guinea,
    Part 1. London : Hazell, Watson & Viney, 1915, p. 41, No. 204.

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    (updated 5 February 2010, 29 October 2022)