| Chequered Sedge-skipper TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Specimen: courtesy of
The Australian Museum)
|
| Chequered Sedge-skipper TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Specimen: courtesy of
The Australian Museum)
This is a yellow Caterpillar with an orange thorax and tail, a dark line along the back, white lines along the sides, and a brown and black head. It feeds on Sword Grass species (CYPERACEAE) including:
The caterpillar constructs a shelter joining foodplant leaves with silk, where it rest by day, emerging to feed at night. It pupates within its shelter.
The adult butterfly has brown wings, with off-white spots on the forewings, and an orange patch on each hind wing. The adults have a wingspan of about 4 cms. The males have a black line acros most of each forewing.
The undersides of the wings are brown, marbled with white markings.
Eggs are pale yellowish-green and are dome-shaped with about 30 microscopic ribs. As hatching approaches, patches of other colours develop. The eggs have a diameter of about 1 mm. The eggs are laid singly on leaves of a foodplant.
The species is found in the
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 150-151.
Gustavus Athol Waterhouse,
Descriptions of new species of Australian Rhopalocera,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 25, Part 1 (1900) pp. 54-57, and also
Plate 1, figs. 5-8.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 28 July 2001, 5 January 2024)