Wednesday 27 September 2017

Azure hidden

Very strong and gusty wind today dislodged a butterfly from the treetops where it must have recently emerged from it pupae as the wings were not fully expanded. It was not able to fly but was happy to stay on a twig for photos as it waited.


The underside of the wings show beautiful earth colours that were almost iridescent in the sunlight. The upperwing colour is an iridescent deep purple, but I could not get a photo of the open wings.


There are quite a number of "Blues" and it was quite difficult to get the ID but I am fairly confident the it is a male Dark Purple Azure Ogyris abrata whose caterpillars feed on mistletoe species.

Tuesday 19 September 2017

Flyscreen grid

A small moth was on the outside of the backdoor flyscreen in the middle of the day and stayed for a photo.

Finally tracked down the identification as Sandava xylistis of the Noctuidae family which has been found in the Eastern parts of Australia. Wingspan about 3mm. No information on the larvae food preferences.

Saturday 9 September 2017

Jezabels attracted to Fire Sprite

A warm spring day brought out many jezabel butterflies and our Grevillea Fire Sprite (cultivar) was providing a great source of nectar. Our most often sighted species is the Common Jezabel Delias nigrina but today we had quite a few Northern Jezabels getting into the action.

Female Northern Jezabel
 
Male Northern Jezabel
Male upper wings
The larvae of this Genus have mistletoe species as their main food source and we have many in the trees on the property to attract these butterflies.

The Northern Jezebel as their name suggests are more likely to be sighted in the north of Australia but they do range down as far as Sydney.

Common Jezebel female