Toxidia parvula (Plötz, 1884)
Banded Grass-skipper
(previously known as Telesto parvulus)
TRAPEZITINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Toxidia parvula
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

The Caterpillars of this species are pale brown, sometimes with green and/or pink markings. The head is rough and black.

Toxidia parvula
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

The caterpillars feed on various species of

  • Grass (POACEAE).

    Toxidia parvula pupa
    (Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

    They pupate in a curled leaf of a foodplant. The pupa is brown, and covered sparsely in stiff white hairs.

    Toxidia parvula
    female
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    These adults are dark brown, with several white spots on each forewing, The males also have a pale grey sex brand edged in darker brown near the centre of each forewing.

    Toxidia parvula
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The undersides are similar to the the upper surfaces, but paler, and with a dark band across each hindwing. The butterflies have a wing span of about 2 cms.

    Toxidia parvula ovum
    egg, highly magnified
    (Photo: courtesy of Ken Walker, Merimbula, New South Wales)

    The eggs are off-white and shaped like a high dome with about a dozen ribs. As they approach hatching: the eggs develop pink markings. The eggs have a diameter of about 1 mm. They are laid singly on a leaf of a foodplant.

    The species occurs in

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales, and
  • Victoria.


    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, p 137.

    Wesley Jenkinson,
    Life History Notes on the Banded Grass Skipper, Toxidia parvulus (Plotz, 1884) Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae,
    Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 55 (December 2009), pp. 17-19.

    Carl Plötz,
    Die Hesperiinen-Gattung Telesto Hüb., und ihre Arten,
    Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung,
    Volume 45, Parts 10-12 (1884), pp. 379-380, No. 11.


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    (updated 2 April 2009, 5 January 2025)