Common Brown Butterfly at Eden, NSW
Identification history
| Heteronympha merope | 15 Apr 2018 | RossMannell |
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5 comments
KerriLee
wrote:
15 Apr 2018
Yes, H. metope ... and this will be a female, ovipositing on grasses. They have a fascinating life history - the males all die in Spring, soon after mating. The mated females then rest in shady places for several months ... and now they're all out and about laying eggs!
RossMannell
wrote:
15 Apr 2018
Intertesting. With the males dying off, it would allow greater food for the egg-laden females.
KerriLee
wrote:
15 Apr 2018
Perhaps, although I suspect the females don't feed very much, particularly when they're resting over the Summer. Most moths and butterflies rely upon the fat reserves from their time as voracious little caterpillars :)
SuziBond
wrote:
17 May 2018
Kerri interesting that your Common Brown males at the coast all die off in spring - in Canberra we see the males into the summer months as well, but by midsummer the males have often faded quite a bit, some so much they are nearly white.
KerriLee
wrote:
18 May 2018
hhmmm ... perhaps this is something we could survey next Summer. I'm basing my comments on a combination of what I've read, and the fact that our only photos of males have been taken in Spring. Perhaps it's time we got more systematic about it :)
Location information
- Coordinates 149.922473-36.976205
- Maps Ben Boyd National Park
- Places Eden, NSW
Sighting information
- 1 - 3 Abundance
- 13 Apr 2018 01:46 PM Recorded on
- RossMannell Recorded by
Species information
- Heteronympha merope Scientific name
- Common Brown Butterfly Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1465.4m Recorded at altitude
- 1128 images trained Machine learning
- External link More information
