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

This Caterpillar starts life as one of an array of yellow barrel-shaped eggs laid on the leaf of a food plantj each with a height of about 1 mm.

The Caterpillar may be one of several shades of colour: either yellow, brown, green or pink. It has long white hairs growing out of rows of white spots, and a black head and tail. The Caterpillar grows to a length of about 2 cms.

It lives and feeds communally in a sparse web of silk on various species of Mistletoe ( LORANTHACEAE ) including :
as well as

The pupa has a length of about 2 cms. It is orange or yellow with black spikes, and is attached to a leaf of the food plant.

The adults are white on top, with a black tip to each forewing and a wide black margin to each hindwing both containing white spots. The wingspan is about 6 cms.


Underneath, the forewings are similar, but the hindwings have a yellow base, then a white band, and have a black outer half containing an arc of red splotches.

The species is found in
Butterflies of this species may be purchased for release at weddings etc.
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 339-340.
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(updated 18 February 2010)