| Western Sand-skipper (previously known as : Telesto dactyliota) TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo courtesy of
Euan Moore/calamanthus/iNaturalist,
Stirling Range National Park, Western Australia)
This Caterpillar is green with white lines along the body. The head is rough and brown. The caterpillar rests by day head downward in a shelter made of twisted leaves of its foodplant, which has the opening at the bottom. The caterpillar has been found feeding on :
The adult butterfly is dark brown with several white spots on each forewing. There is a large suffused pale yellow patch on each hindwing. The males have a large black mark on the upper surface of each forewing. Underneath, the forewings are black with a grey wingtip, a pale yellow costa, and several white spots. The hind wings underneath are grey with arcs of dark outlined spots. The wingspan is about 3 cms.
The species has been described as being composed of several races in small areas of
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 171-172.
Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of new Australian Rhopalocera,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume 2 (1888), p. 831.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(written 3 September 2001, 7 April 2025)