Chaetocneme porphyropis (Meyrick and Lower, 1902)
(one synonym : Hesperia porphyrescens)
Purple Brown Eye
 PYRGINAE ,   HESPERIIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Mark Hopkinson, collected near Atherton)

The Caterpillar is pale green or orange-brown, with a brown head carrying a short pair of pale horns. Along each side are a row of pale dashes. The caterpillar lives by day in a shelter made from joining leaves together with silk. Nocturnally it emerges to feed.


(Photo: courtesy of Mark Hopkinson, collected near Atherton)

Its foodplants are all from the Laurel ( LAURACEAE ) family, including :

  • Camphor Laurel ( Cinnamomum camphora ),
  • Cinnamon Laurel ( Cryptocarya grandis ),
  • Queensland Greenheart ( Endiandra compressa ),
  • Brown Bollywood ( Litsea leefeana ), and
  • White Bolly Gum ( Neolitsea dealbata ).

    The Caterpillar pupates in its leafy shelter.


    (Photo: courtesy of Neil Hewett ,   Cooper Creek Wildernes)

    The adults are dark brown with a blue sheen, and a broad yellow stripe diagonally across each forewing. The undersides of the wings are similar. The butterflies have a wing span of about 6 cms.


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

    The caterpillar hatches from a white ribbed dome-shaped egg laid singly on the upper surface of a leaf of a foodplant.

    The species occurs in tropical Queensland.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 68-69.

    G.A. Wood, The life history of Chaetocneme porphyropis (Meyrick and Lower) (Lepidoptera:Hesperiidae:Pyrginae), Australian Entomological Magazine, Volume 11 (1984), Part 1.

    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    caterpillars
    Australian
    Australian Moths
    moths
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (updated 1 October 2010)