Arrhenes marnas (C. Felder 1860)
Swamp Darter
 (previously known as Pamphila marnas)
HESPERIINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Nick Monaghan)

This Caterpillars is green, and has a pale brown head with an inverted dark 'V' mark on it. It feeds on :

  • Swamp Ricegrass ( Leersia hexandra , POACEAE ),

    and grows to a length of about 2 cms.


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

    The butterflies of this species are brown with orange markings. The males have a black line across part of each forewing. Underneath, the butterflies are a little paler than on top, and the males show no sex brand.


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

    This species exists as several races across southern Asia, including

  • New Guinea.

    The subspecies affinis Waterhouse & Lyell, 1912, occurs along the north-east coastal strip of

  • Queensland.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 213-214.

    Baron Cajetan von Felder,
    Lepidopterorum Amboienensium species novae diagnosibus collustratae,
    Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
    Volume 40, Series 11 (1860), p. 462, No. 53.

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    (updated 19 March 2011, 22 September 2013, 17 May 2020)