Sabera dobboe

Sabera dobboe (Plotz, 1885)
(one synonym: Pamphila dobboe)
Miskin's Swift
HESPERIINAE , HESPERIIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

(updated 5 May 2008)

(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney)

This Caterpillar is pale green with dark lines along the back, and a dark brown head. It lives in a tubular shelter made in a curled leaf of its food plant. It feeds on various members of the family XANTHORRHOEACEAE :

Ti Plant ( Cordyline terminalis ),

Cabbage Tree ( Cordyline australis ),

Slender Palm Lily ( Cordyline stricta ), and

Palm Lily (Cordyline cannifolia ).

(Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

The Caterpillar pupates within its tubular shelter. The pupa has a length of about 2 cms.

(Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

The upper surface of the adult butterfly is brown, with orange patches.

underside
(Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

The undersides are brown, with a white patch on each forewing. The wing span is about 3 cms.

The eggs are laid on the underside of leaves of the food plant. They are white with vertical ribs.

The species is also found in New Guinea and neighbouring islands as other subspecies, and as the subspecies autoleon along the tropical coast of Queensland.