| No-brand Grass-dart HESPERIINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)
|
| No-brand Grass-dart HESPERIINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)
This Caterpillar is pale green. The head is initially black, later becoming black and white.
The caterpillar has sparse hairs on its tail, and lives in a tubular shelter made of leaves of its food plant, which is one of many species of Grass ( POACEAE ), including :
In summer in the tropics, the caterpillar matures in about four weeks. It pupates in its grass shelter. The pupa goes through a stage with a cream abdomen and brown wing covering. The pupa has a length of about 1.5 cms. The pupal period in summer is about eleven days.
The adult butterfly on top is brown with orange markings. Underneath, it is dull yellow with pale yellow markings It has a wingspan of about 2 cms.
The species is found in inland areas of Australia, including
The eggs are white and hemispherical, with no ribs. They stay white throughout their development until they hatch. In Mackay in October, the eggs hatch in six days.
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 196-197.
Wesley Jenkinson,
Life history notes on the No-brand Grass-dart,
Taractrocera ina ( Waterhouse, 1932) Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 60 (March 2011), pp. 21-24.
Gustavus Athol Waterhouse,
Australian Hesperiidae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 57 (1932), pp. 228-229.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 28 October 2009, 14 August 2024)