Hesperilla trimaculata

Hesperilla trimaculata Tepper, 1882
Large Brown Skipper
(previously known as Motasingha quadrimaculata)
TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA

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

Hesperilla trimaculata
(Photo: courtesy of Nick Monaghan, Victoria)

The Caterpillars of this species are a translucent green, with a big black head. They live by day between leaves of the food plant joined with silk, feeding nocturnally on various Sedges in CYPERACEAE, including:

Sword Sedge ( Lepidosperma angustatum ),

Black Rapier Sedge ( Lepidosperma carphoides ),

Sand Hill Sword Sedge ( Lepidosperma concavum ), and

Sticky Sword Sedge ( Lepidosperma viscidum ),

and in HAEMODORACEAE including:

Fringed Grassflower ( Phlebocarya ciliata ).

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

The upper side of the adult butterfly is dark brown with a series of pale yellow spots on each forewing. The males additionally have a dark line across part of each forewing.

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

Underneath, the wings are pale brown with white spots under each forewing. They also show pronounced white veins, and the hind wings show a number of pale spots outlines in black between the veins. The wing span is about 3.5 cms.

egg, magnified
(Photo: courtesy of Ken Walker, Dimboola, Victoria)

Eggs are yellow and are dome-shaped with about 30 microscopic ribs. The eggs have a diameter of about 2 mms. The eggs are laid singly on leaves of a foodplant.

The species is found in various small localities distributed over inland Australia as several subspecies:

dilata Waterhouse 1932, in New South Wales,

trimaculata in Victoria and South Australia,
and

occidentalis Moulds & Atkins 1986, in Western Australia.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Nick Monaghan, Victoria)