South Western Australia, Spring

[Sooty]

I agree with your Geitoneura identifications.
I get klugii in NSW, and also G. acantha (Ringed Xenica), but minyas is restricted to WA.
Other than those 2 Xenicas the only Satyrid found in south-western WA is Heteronympha merope, the Common Brown, though it's really not that common there in my experience as I've only seen a couple of them. It can be abundant in bush areas around Sydney.

[Kip]

Thanks again for confirmations.. I did see merope, but only males, and only on three or four occasions in different places. I found it very difficult to approach, and when it flew off, it was very "off"...

It is a much larger butterfly than the Wall sized Xenicas, more Rock Grayling sized. ( if that's any help )

[Sooty]

Even in Sydney, where the species is very common, H. merope females are rarely seen until summer. The males can be extremely common in Spring, but not the females, which become very common in the autumn. It's unusual to see both sexes together. They actually eclose at the same time, and mate early, but the females pretty much hide for a few months.

Heteronympha mirifica does the same. Its males and females are very different; this fact plus the apparently different flight time led to the males and females being classified as separate species, until someone reared them both from a single batch of eggs. This explains the common name being Wonder Brown.

Many of the Heteronympha species are skittish and hard to photograph. The most cooperative one is probably H. cordace, the Bright-eyed Brown :

[Kip]

That last one is fabulous..
So to my last one.. Elodina angulipennis , the Southern Pearl White, photographed in Sydney Botanical Gardens. They flew in numbers around only two small trees in one single place in the park. Moreover, they hardly ever settled, and when they did, it was for about 5 seconds every time.. it took me ages to achieve this shot, before I was ousted by a group of infant school kids with teachers who came to replant the veg patch the trees were on... regrettably I thought I'd better not stay.. old man with camera near children - not a good recipe

[David M]

Thanks Kip (and Sooty) for such an eye-opening read. Some of these butterflies are fabulous and it's most interesting to hear of their behaviour at the other end of the planet!!

[Kip]

Thanks David, glad you found it interesting. No more butterflies for me for a while though now, sigh!

[David M]

...No more butterflies for me for a while though now, sigh!

You've certainly seen plenty in 2018, Kip! I shall look forward to more in the coming year. Meantime, all the best.

[Sooty]

E. angulipennis is great as it can be found on the wing at all times of the year. If you want to get photos it's best to get there early in the morning, as the butterflies spend a fair bit of time basking in the sunshine and are much easier to photograph. Once they get fully warmed up they prefer to flutter about.

For many years the colony existed entirely on those 2 Capparis trees, but more recently the Gardens planted some more in a couple of other places, so you can find the butterflies hanging around a spot close to the Garden Shop, and also amongst the trees near the Calyx.

I was very amused to read Kip's anecdote about the schoolkids, because EXACTLY the same thing has happened to me

The Royal Botanic Gardens used to be a good spot for butterflies. I regularly used to see interesting things like Bright Cornelian (Deudorix diovis), Common Jezebel (Delias nigrina), Macleay's Swallowtail (Graphium macleayanus), Pale Green Triangle (Graphium eurypylus), Blue Triangle (Graphium choredon), Hairy Line-blue (Erysichton lineatus) and various others, plus occasionally Glistening Line-blue (Sahulana scintillata) and Small Green-banded Blue (Psychonotis caelius). But they seemed to change their garden management practices a few years ago. They ripped out a lot of plants that appeared to have been larval foodplants, so other than the Pearl Whites the RBG is now usually a disappointing spot.

Here are a couple of shots I've taken in the Gardens :


Delias nigrina


Graphium macleayanus


Deudorix diovis


Erysichton lineatus - male


Erysichton lineatus - female

[Kip]

glad I'm not the only one to be frightened off by infants!

I love the shot of Graphium macleayanus especially, though the Lycaenids were what I was really hoping I'd see.

Interesting to learn there are other trees in the SBG the Whites fly by and about their behaviour. It is so frustrating when Botanical Gardens are made into butterfly deserts but I guess it's all about the plants so they don't want stuff eating them It was one of the only places I could look. Even the walk from Bondi to Coojee which I had high hopes for found me nothing!!
Maybe another time, maybe January or February time some year.

I've really enjoyed all your input, thank you!

[Sooty]

I'm not surprised you didn't see many butterflies on the Bondi-Coogee walk; I've never found that that sort of environment to be very productive.

I think November / December is a better time of year to go butterflying in NSW than Jan/Feb. Quite a lot of butterflies only fly in the spring, or have spring and autumn broods, but there's usually less on the wing when it's really hot.

However if you go to the tropics, eg Cairns, November can be relatively quiet as it's right at the end of the dry season. Jan/Feb is better up in there, though of course it's the wet season so you could get a lot of rain. I've found around Easter can often be very good up there.

For WA the best time is late Oct / early Nov. Very little flies in the summer as it's very hot and dry there; virtually everything flies in the spring though there are one or two species which only fly in the autumn - very frustrating as at some point I'll have to pay to go all the way there just for a couple of species...