Large Brown Skipper (previously known as Motasingha quadrimaculata) TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Nick Monaghan, Victoria)
The Caterpillars of this species are a translucent green, with a big black head. They live by day between leaves of the food plant joined with silk, feeding nocturnally on various Sedges in CYPERACEAE, including:
and in HAEMODORACEAE including:
The upper side of the adult butterfly is dark brown with a series of pale yellow spots on each forewing. The males additionally have a dark line across part of each forewing.
Underneath, the wings are pale brown with white spots under each forewing. They also show pronounced white veins, and the hind wings show a number of pale spots outlines in black between the veins. The wing span is about 3.5 cms.
Eggs are yellow and are dome-shaped with about 30 microscopic ribs. The eggs have a diameter of about 2 mms. The eggs are laid singly on leaves of a foodplant.
The species is found in various small localities distributed over inland Australia as several subspecies:
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 165-166.
Johann Gottlieb Otto Tepper,
The Papilionidae of South Australia,
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
Volume 4 (1882), p. 32, and also
Plate 2, fig. 1.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 20 March 2011, 5 January 2024)