Grey Swift (previously known as Hesperia bada) HESPERIINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
This Caterpillar feeds on variuous species in POACEAE, including:
By day the caterpillar rests in a shelter made from leaves joined with silk. It emerges at night to feed. It pupates in its shelter.
The adult butterfly is dark brown, with two white spots on each fore wing.
The under side is nearly identical to the upper surface. The wing span is about 3 cms.
The species is found over much of south-east Asia, including
and the subspecies sida (Waterhouse, 1934) is found over much of the north-east coast of Australia including
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 243-244.
Frederic Moore,
Descriptions of new Asiatic Hesperidae,
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,
1878, Part 3, p. 688.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 8 January 2012, 5 January 2024)