Toxidia rietmanni

Toxidia rietmanni (Semper, [1879])
White-brand Grass-skipper
(previously known as Telesto rietmanni)
TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA

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

Toxidia rietmanni
mature caterpillar
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

This Caterpillar is initially green with a black head. As the caterpillar matures, it becomes brown with obscure darker lines along the body. The head is a mottled dark brown. The caterpillar folds leaves or joins leaves together with silk, to make a tubular shelter in which it rests by day, facing downwards. The caterpillar emerges to feed at night, feeding on a number of grasses (POACEAE), and is thought to favour:

Bordered Panic Grass ( Entolasia marginata ),

Graceful Panic Grass ( Ottochloa gracillima ), and

Dwarf Panic Grass ( Panicum pygmaeum ).

(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

As the caterpillar grows, it constructs larger shelters for itself. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 2 cms. It pupates in its last shelter.

(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

The adult butterfly of this species has brown wings, with two or three white splotches on each forewing. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 2.5 cms.

Male
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The male butterfly has a sex brand consisting of a white zigzag line outlined in black on each forewing.

Female
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The eggs are laid singly, usually on foodplant leaves. The eggs are hemispherical with about a dozen ribs. Initially they are white, but after a few days they develop reddish markings. The eggs have a diameter of about 0.8 mm.

egg, magnified
(Photo: courtesy of Ken Walker, Taree, New South Wales)

Two main races of this species are found along the east coast of Australia :

parasema (Lower, 1908) in northern Queensland, and

rietmanni in southern Queensland and in New South Wales.

(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 132-133.

Wesley Jenkinson,
Life history notes on the White-brand Grass-skipper, Toxidia rietmanni rietmanni (Semper, [1879]) Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 92 (March 2019), pp. 9-13,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club.

Gorg Semper,
Beitrag zur Rhopalocerenfauna von Australien,
Journal des Museum Godeffroy,
Volume 5, Heft 14 (1879) p. 187, No. 171.

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(updated 2 May 2008, 5 January 2024)