SA Butterflies and Moths

Adults

Male upperside
clearly showing the silvery-grey sex brand
in the forewings

Male underside

Female upperside

Female underside

Food Host

Microlaena stipoides (weeping rice-grass), a hostplant for the Barred Grass-skipper

Eggs

Newly laid eggs

Fertile eggs

Mature eggs with female abdominal hairs left on the eggs, presumably for camouflage

Mature egg ready to hatch

Eggs after their tops have been breached by the developed larvae. The larvae may just sit inside the eggs with their black heads blocking the openings and will not emerge until wetted by autumn rain, usually combined with a seasonal drop in air temperatures.

Larvae hatching from egg

Larvae

First instar larva (2 mm) just emerged from egg

First instar larva after feeding on green grass

Second instar larva (3 mm)

Third instar larva (5 mm)

Fourth instar larva (12 mm)

Early fifth instar larva (16 mm)

Late fifth instar larva (20 mm) at quiescent stage

Head of fifth instar larva

Larva Shelter

Newly constructed tip-folded leaf shelter on weeping rice-grass, typical of first to third instar stage larvae

A bevy of tip-folded larvae shelters on a tussock of weeping rice-grass

Rolled leaf and bark debris within host grass used as shelters by fourth to fifth instar larvae. The shelters are lined with silk and the ends anchored with silk to the grass stems.

Tip-folded leaf shelter hanging by the midrib vein of the eaten grass leaf on weeping rice-grass

Tip-folded leaf shelter constructed on kikuyu by an early fourth instar (10 mm) larva

Pupae

Pupa without the coat of white bloom

Pupae (15 mm)

Pupa head area
(operculum)

Ventral view

Dorsal view

Pupa posterior end cremaster and hooks

A double-rolled leaf within host grass being used as a shelter by a fifth instar larva on left (lower part of head just showing), and a pupa on the right (white head showing). The opening to the pupa shelter is usually not sealed by a silk web.

Opening of pupa shelter is sometimes partially blocked by strong strands of silk.

compacta_pu_head_shelter_Pen.jpg (18.6 KB)

Closeup of pupa head in above leaf shelter, showing extra frontal spots

All photography by R. Grund unless stated otherwise.