Chaetocneme critomedia (Guerin-Meneville, 1831)
Banded Redeye
PYRGINAE ,
HESPERIIDAE
Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 14 October 2008)
These Caterpillars are greenish pink with white spots
and a dark red middorsal line.
The head is brown with a black stripe edged with cream.
They grow to a length of about 3 cms.
They live in leafy shelters by day.
Initially these are constructed from a cut piece
of leaf folded over to make a pocket.
Later instars join two leaves together with silk,
or a piece from one leaf and join it onto another.
The Caterpillars feed nocturnally on plants from many families, including:
Rose Butternut ( Blephocarya involucrigera,
ANACARDIACEAE ),
Custard Apple (
Annona reticulata,
ANNONACEAE ),
Red Kamala ( Mallotus polyadenos,
EUPHORBIACEAE ),
White Bolly Gum ( Neolitsea dealbata,
LAURACEAE ),
Bamaga Satinash ( Syzygium bamagense,
MYRTACEAE ), and
Brown Kurrajong ( Commersonia bartramia,
STERCULIACEAE ).
The adult butterflies have a wingspan of about 5 cms.
On top: they are brown with a diagonal orange band
across each forewing,
and a broad orange edge to each hindwing.
The undersides are similar.
The species is found in New Guinea as several subspecies.
The subspecies sphinterifera occurs in
Cape York, Australia.
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 67-68.
G.A. Wood,
The life history of Chaetocneme critomedia sphintifera
(Fruhstorfer) (Lepidoptera:Hesperiidae:Pyrginae),
Australian Entomological Magazine, Volume 11 (1985), p. 6.
