Anisynta cynone

Anisynta cynone (Hewitson, [1874])
Mottled Grass-skipper
(one synonym : Hesperilla gracilis Tepper, 1882)
TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA

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

These Caterpillars are greyish with a brown head and thorax, and have a dark line down the back, and a white line along each side. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 2 cms. They live in a shelter constructed from a folded leaf secured with silk. The caterpillars feed nocturnally on various grasses from the family POACEAE, including :

Rough Spear-grass ( Austrostipa scabra ),

False Brome ( Brachypodium distachyon ),

Couch ( Cynodon dactylon ),

Smilo Grass ( Piptatherum miliaceum ), and

Grey Tussock Grass ( Poa sieberiana ).

(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The adults are dark brown on top, with cream spots on each forewing. Underneath, they are brown with a pale area under each forewing costa, and white spots under each hindwing. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 2 cms.

underside, drawing by William Chapman Hewitson, listed as Cyclopides cynone,
Illustrations of New Species of Exotic Butterflies,
Volume 5 (1874), Plate 61, fig. 17,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

This species are found in :

New South Wales,

Victoria, and

South Australia,

as various races:

cynone,

gunneda Couchman, 1954,

gracilis (Tepper, 1882), and

grisea Waterhouse, 1932.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 115-116.

William Chapman Hewitson,
Cyclopides & Hesperilla,
Illustrations of new species of exotic butterflies,
London, Volume 5 (1874), p. 121, No. 17, and also Plate 61, fig. 17.

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(updated 25 July 2004, 4 January 2024)