| Heath Sand-skipper (previously known as Telsto chaostola) TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
|
| Heath Sand-skipper (previously known as Telsto chaostola) TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
This Caterpillar is yellowish with a red prothorax, and a dark dorsal line. The head is hairy and dark brown with two pale bands. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 cms. By day it rests head down in a conical shelter made from foodplant leaves joined by silk. The entrance is at the bottom. It feeds nocturnally on various species of Sword Grass (CYPERACEAE) including :
The pupa is formed in the shelter, head down.
When it emerges, the adult butterfly on top is dark brown with several white spots on each forewing. There is a suffused yellow patch on each hindwing. The males have a black patch on each forewing.
Underneath, the wings are black with a grey wingtip, a pale yellow triangle extending from the base to halfway along the costa, and several white spots. The hindwings underneath are grey with a number of indistinct outlined grey spots. The wingspan is about 3 cms.
The eggs are dome shaped with minute ribs, with a diameter of about 1.3 mm. The eggs are yellowish, developing pink areas as hatching approaches. They are laid singly on a leaf of a foodplant.
The species may be found in small pockets as several races :
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby, Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 168-169.
Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of new Australian Rhopalocera,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume 2 (1888), p. 830.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 2 May 2005, 22 September 2013, 17 May 2020, 4 September 2021)