Antipodia dactyliota (Meyrick, 1888)
Western Sand-skipper
 (previously known as : Telesto dactyliota)
TRAPEZITINAE,   HESPERIIDAE,   HESPERIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

(Photo courtesy of Stephen Warwick, Wandoo, Western Australia)

This Caterpillar is green with white lines along the body. The head is rough and brown. The caterpillar rests by day head downward in a shelter made of twisted leaves of its foodplant, which has the opening at the bottom. The caterpillar has been found feeding on :

  • Black Grass ( Gahnia lanigera, CYPERACEAE ).

    The adult butterfly is dark brown with several white spots on each forewing. There is a large suffused pale yellow patch on each hindwing. The males have a large black mark on the top of each forewing. Underneath, the forewings are black with a grey wingtip, a pale yellow costa, and several white spots. The hind wings underneath are grey with arcs of dark outlined spots. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

    The species has been described as being composed of several races in small areas of

  • Western Australia, namely :

  • anaces Waterhouse, 1937,
  • anapus Waterhouse, 1937, and
  • nila Waterhouse, 1932.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 171-172.

    Edward Meyrick,
    Descriptions of new Australian Rhopalocera,
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
    Series 2, Volume 2 (1888), p. 831.

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    (written 3 September 2001, 26 September 2013, 23 May 2020)