Montane or Mountain Spotted Skipper (previously known as Hesperilla perornata) TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
This Caterpillar is green with black dots and a dark dorsal line. Its head is pale brown with a dark line. It lives by day in a shelter made from blades of grass curled and joined with silk, and feeds at night. It has been found feeding only on:
It pupates in its larval shelter.
The upper side of the adult butterfly is dark brown with a number of pale yellow spots on each forewing, and a pale yellow band on each hindwing. Each wing also has a narrow chequered border.
Underneath, the forewings are dark brown with pale yellow patches, and the hindwings are white with arcs of dark brown spots. The wing span is about 3 cms.
The eggs are pale yellow and are dome-shaped. with a diameter of about 2 mm. They are laid singly on the underside of leaves of a foodplant.
The species is found in the mountains of
Further reading :
William Forsell Kirby,
Descriptions of new Australian Hesperiidae,
Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
Series 6, Volume 12 (1893), p. 437.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 25 July 2004, 28 September 2013, 30 May 2020, 13 September 2021)