Page 97 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

BUTTERFLY CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Hesperiidae
TRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION Scattered areas in southern Australia
DIS
DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT
A
HABITAT T Low rainfall, open eucalyptus woodlands with a heath understory
HABIT
HOST PLANTS S Mainly sword-sedges (Lepidosperma spp.)
T PLANT
HOS
HOST PLANTS
NOTE
TE
NOTE Caterpillar that constructs tubular shelters from many leaves
NO
CONSERV A TION S T A TUS Not evaluated, but localized and generally uncommon
CONSERVATION STATUS
CONSERVATION STATUS
ADULT WINGSPAN

1⅜ in (35 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
1¾ in (44 mm)
MOTASINGHA TRIMACULATA
LARGE BROWN SKIPPER 95
(TEPPER, 1882)

The Large Brown Skipper caterpillar hatches from an egg
laid singly on its food plant in late spring and early summer.
It constructs a vertical shelter by joining and twisting 20 or
more of the needlelike Lepidosperma leaves with silk. The
shelter is open at the top, and the caterpillar rests in the shelter
during the day, emerging at night to feed on tips of the foliage.
New shelters are built as the caterpillar grows. On young Actual size
plants, the shelter is close to the ground, but on larger clumps
of the sedge it is midway up the plant. There is only one
generation a year.

The caterpillar overwinters and completes growth by late

winter to mid-spring, then pupates in the final shelter, the head
orientated upward. Adults fly in the warmer months of spring

and summer, and the males exhibit strong hilltopping behavior
where they set up mating territories. The entire subfamily to
which this species belongs is restricted to the Australian faunal
region. The genus Motasingha contains two species, both
confined to southern or western areas of Australia.

The Large Brown Skipper caterpillar is
semitranslucent, yellowish green or olive green,
with a dark green middorsal line down the
abdomen. The prothoracic plate and the anal
plate are reddish brown, the latter with brown
spots and several white posterior setae. The
rugose head and mouthparts are black.