.
Who would have thought: I always have difficulties photographing butterflies,
because they don't stay still, but today, on the first day of winter there was one
just begging to be memorised. Unfortunately I haven't been able to identify him
yet. AN UPDATE: I asked the bugman (www.whatsthatbug.com), and received a
prompt reply:
SWORD GRASS BROWN FROM AUSTRALIA
Australian Butterfly
June 1, 2010
Hi again Bugman. It’s handy to have your camera around at all times: I always have difficulties getting decent photos of
butterflies, but this morning, on the first winter day in Australia, I spotted this beautiful specimen on the window of our deck.
Maybe it was a bit stiff because of the ‘cold’ (about 60 degrees Fahrenheit). I haven’t been able to identify it yet, so if you
can, I’d be thrilled!
Ridou
Sydney Australia
Hi Ridou,
We thought this must be a Satyr or Wood Nymph in the subfamily Satyrinae of the Brush Footed Butterfly family, so we did a
web search. We quickly found an image of the Sword Grass Brown, Tisiphone abeona, on the TrekNature website.
Another posting on TrekNature has this information: “a common medium sized butterfly of the coastal forests of south-
eastern Australia. With a wingspan of 52mm and a habit of patrolling walking tracks and bush trails, this is a well-known
butterfly. They rarely fly more than 2m off the ground and are active from September to April. Their common name is related
to their host plant, sword grass (Gahina sp), a tall stiff grass with razor sharp edges.”
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