Butterflies and moths
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YELLOW ADMIRAL
Vanessa itea
COMMON BROWN
Heteronympha merope
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F
MARBLED XENICA (Klug's Xenica)
Geitoneura klugii
This is a very versatile species that can survive a broad range of temperatures but they do like basking on sunlit walls and fences. Strong fliers, they can easily migrate to more suitable areas.
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This butterfly lays eggs on plants in the stinging nettle family, including mulberry. Emerging caterpillars measure around 1mm so are hard to spot.The caterpillars have a habit of rolling up the leaves of their host plant with silk, and hiding inside the cavity it creates. They come out to feed at night or on cloudy, less sunny days.
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Adults feed on sugary liquids including sap runs from bleeding trees, fermenting fallen fruits but most commonly flower nectar.
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Bart Coppens has a very informative website on this and other butterflies with some fabulous photos.
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What's my wingspan? 48-55 mm
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I thought these two butterflies were different species but it turned out that they are just different sexes. The one with the bolder markings is the female. They are really hard to spot when their wings are closed as the undersides of their wings blend in with the leaf litter remarkably well.
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This butterfly likes to eat seeping gum from tree wounds and fermenting fruit. They also like the sugary secretions of scale insects on trees, and can become so intoxicated with the feeding that they can be lifted off the scale by hand.
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With a life span of six months the female is
one of Australia's longest-lived butterflies.
Newly hatched larvae eat their egg shells before starting to eat plant material.
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What's my wingspan? 60-70 mm
M
I had assumed this was just another Common Brown until I looked at my photos more closely. It has a much more distinct pattern on its lower wing, especially the two thick 'eyebrows'. It's also noticeably smaller than the common brown. The butterfly above is a male - it has a paler brown bar across the upper side of the top wing ('fore wing').
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Males set up a territory on or close to the ground. They fly upward in spiral formations as part of territorial disputes, which are common.
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The female lays white or pale yellow eggs which gradually change to a speckled purple within a few days. The larvae only beginning to develop within the eggs when temperatures go down, when the days shorten or when autumn showers wet the eggs. The larvae do not emerge from the egg until there are prolonged showers.
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What's my wingspan? 36-40 mm
CHAOSTOLA SKIPPER
Antipodia chaostola
Photo Tasmanian Government Threatened Species Link
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This is an endangered species found only in the east and south-east of Tasmania and only in isolated localised spots, one of which is Knocklofty. Its numbers are still declining, due to habitat loss and poor fire management.
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The name "skipper" comes from its rapid and erratic flight. The picture above is a museum image. Actual photos of a living butterfly tend to show the wings more folded, facing backwards. The body of the butterfly is quite plump and furry and the wingspan is 30-35mm. The caterpillars eat (sedge) at night and rest during the day.
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Unlike most butterflies, which develop from egg to caterpillar to adult in one year, this
butterfly has a two-year life cycle - it can take 20 months before caterpillars begin the transition to becoming butterflies.
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What's my wingspan? 32-35 mm
MEADOW ARGUS
Junonia villida
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According to South Australia Butterflies and Moths website, this species often migrates north in autumn and south in spring. This is apparently a very hardy butterfly though and can survive temperatures below freezing.
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The South Australia Butterflies site has an interesting photo of the butterfly's egg, magnified many times.
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What's my wingspan? 40-43 mm
AUSTRALIAN PAINTED LADY
Vanessa kershawi
This butterfly was spotted at the end of September 2023 on the fire trail leading down from the summit to the quarry. Adult painted ladies migrate south in large numbers from New South Wales and Queeensland in spring.
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This butterfly is easily distinguished from the Common Brown and Klug's Xenica by the white dots on the forewing and the row of four 'eyespots' on the hindwing, at least three of which have blue centres.
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At mating time, males perch on hilltops where possible and scan the sky looking for females. If another males comes by, they will aggressively chase it away. Mating can last longer than an hour. The butterfly has a life cycle of around 53 days in summer. The caterpillars are only active at night.
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What's my wingspan? 43-47 mm
Butterflies
= Seen by me on Knocklofty
= Photo taken at Knocklofty
HOBART BROWN
Argynnina hobartia
TASMANIAN HAIRSTREAK
Pseudalmenus chlorinda
TASMANIAN SKIPPER
Pasma tasmanicus
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A small, but very beautiful, butterfly with a wingspan of around 3 cm, the Hobart Brown is found only in Tasmania. I've spotted a few this season (early October as I write). It has a couple of key identifying features - the three dots on the forewing and the stripy antenna. It also seems to be a very hairy butterfly, and the hairs are very pretty colours. I haven't been able to find much information on this butterfly except that the caterpillars eat grasses and have a forked tail.
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What's my wingspan? 30 mm
Inset: Ross Field, Museums Victoria
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I saw two of these butterflies on Knocklofty in September 2023, but it was a blustery day
and I couldn't get a decent photo of them. According to the Threatened Species Section of the Tasmanian Dept of Natural Resources and Environment, the Hairstreak has not been spotted on Knocklofty before, so this was an exciting observation! I have since also spotted the above hairstreak on Knocklofty (Nov 2023).
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The Tasmanian Hairstreak is found only in Tasmania and on the southeast mainland, and probably reached Tasmania in the past across land bridges from the mainland. There are at least six subspecies, which tend to be found in very localised areas. The species as a whole seem to be doing okay, but one subspecies at least (Pseudalmenus chlorinda myrsilus) is threatened.
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What's my wingspan? 30 mm
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Also known as the two-spotted grass skipper, the Tasmanian skipper is a very small butterfly with a furry body and striped antenna. This one was spotted on the Mt Stuart track in November 2023. It was so small I thought it was a fly at first. I would have said its wingspan was 2cm, but informed sources say up to 3cm.
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In its caterpillar phase, it lives by day in a shelter formed by joining several grass stems together with silk in the middle of a tussock. It comes out to feed at night.
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What's my wingspan? 30 mm (if that)
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BRIGHT COPPER
Paralucia aurifer
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I have spotted only two of these lovely little things. They are both very small and very shy. Adults fly from October to February in Tasmania.
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The butterfly above is probably a female - the male has more pointy wings. The female lays eggs underside of the leaves of the Prickly Box. The caterpillar is attended by small black ants. During the day, the caterpillar hides in the ants nest at the foot of the tree. It also goes through its pupation (chrysalis) stage in the ants nest.
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What's my wingspan? 25 mm
Moths
YELLOW-BANDED DAY-MOTH
Eutrichopidia latinus
OMEGA HEATH MOTH
Dichromodes euscia
GEOMETER MOTH
Dichromodes ainaria
October 2023.
Kindly identified by Kristi, at Insects
of Tasmania. October 23.
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November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
MAGPIE MOTH
Nyctemera amicus
December 2023.
FORESTER MOTH
Pollanisus genus
October 2023.
VICISSATA MOTH
Chrysolarentia vicissata
March 2023.
PAINTED CUP MOTH (larva)
Doratifera pinguis
November 2023.
Best guess: GENISTA BROOM MOTH
January 2024.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
TREE LUCERNE MOTH
Uresiphita ornithopteralis
November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
December 2023.
Unidentified
December 2023.
Unidentified
December 2023.
Unidentified
November 2023.
Unidentified
Inside a burnt tree base. Jan 2024
Pollanin
January 2024
Sources
Atlas of Living Australia. Geitoneura klugii: Klug's Xenica. https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https:/biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/80c876b2-0b7c-48cb-9273-2f207af3654d
Coffs Harbour Butterfly House. Argynnina hobartia (Westwood, 1851) Hobart Brown. http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/nymp/hobartia.html
Coffs Harbour Butterfly House. Dichromodes euscia Omega Heath Moth. http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/chro/euscia.html
Coffs Harbour Butterfly House. Junonia villida (Fabricius, 1787) - Meadow Argus http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/nymp/villida.html
Coffs Harbour Butterfly House. Paralucia aurifer (Blanchard, 1848), Bright Copper. http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/lyca/aurifera.html
Coppens, B (breedingbutterflies.com). Vanessa itea — “Yellow admiral”. https://breedingbutterflies.com/vanessa-itea-yellow-admiral/ Guide to the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Antipodia chaostola leucophaea — Tasmanian Chaostola Skipper,
Heath-sand Skipper. https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=77672
Field Guide to the Insects of Tasmania. Genus Junonia – Field Guide to the Insects of Tasmania (tasmanianinsectfieldguide.com)
Field Guide to the Insects of Tasmania. Moths by Colour. ​https://tasmanianinsectfieldguide.com/hexapoda/insectsoftasmanialepidoptera/moths-by-colour/
iNaturalist. Australian Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi). https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/197077-Vanessa-kershawiNew, T.R. (2011). The Australian Hairstreak, Pseudalmenus chlorinda. In: Butterfly Conservation in South-Eastern Australia: Progress and Prospects. Springer, Dordrecht.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9926-6_5
Museums Victoria. Paralucia aurifer (Blanchard, 1848), Bright Copper. https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/species/12265
South Australia Butterflies and Moths. https://sabutterflies.org.au/nymp/villida.html
South Australian Butterflies and Moths. Common Brown – Heteronympha merope merope (Fabricius).
https://sabutterflies.org.au/nymp/merope.html
Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club Inc. 1994. Butterflies of Tasmania.
Threatened Species Section, Tasmanian Dept of Natural Resources and Environment. Tasmanian Hairstreak Butterfly not previously sighted in
Knocklofty - Pers. comm. (2023)
Threatened Species Section, Tasmanian Dept of Natural Resources and Environment Chaostola Skipper ​(Antipodia chaostola subsp. leucophaea):
Species Management Profile for Tasmania's Threatened Species Link. https://www.threatenedspecieslink.tas.gov.au/pages/tasmanian-chaostola-skipper.aspx​ ​Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania. Accessed on 5/4/2023.
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