Hypocysta irius

Hypocysta irius (Fabricius, 1775)
Northern or Orange Streaked Ringlet
(erroneously: Hypocista irius)
SATYRINAE, NYMPHALIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Hypocysta irius
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

These Caterpillars are can be either brown or green. They have a forked tail, and a dark brown head with a pair of horns. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 1.5 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

They feed on common grasses ( POACEAE ), such as:

Blady Grass ( Imperata cylindrica ).

pupa
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

The pupa is mottled brown, and has a dorsal ridge on the thorax and lateral flanges each side of the head. It hangs from a stem, and has a length of about 1 cm.

(Photo: courtesy of Kath Vail, Inner Pocket, New South Wales)

The adult butterflies are brown with an extensive orange patch on each wing, and an eyespot on each hindwing.

(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

Underneath, the wings are brown, and each hind wing has two eyespots. The adult butterflies have a wingspan of about 3 cms.

underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The eggs are yellow and round, with a diameter of about 0.8 mm. They are laid singly on the underside of a foodplant leaf.

The species is found in

Queensland, and

New South Wales.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 481-482.

Johan Christian Fabricius,
Historiae Natvralis Favtoribvs,
Systema Entomologiae,
1775, p. 487, No. 196.

Wesley Jenkinson,
Life History notes on the Orange-streaked Ringlet, Hypocysta irius (Fabricius, 1775) Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 66 (September 2012), pp. 14-16.

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(updated 8 October 2012, 13 August 2024)