Butterflies of subtropical north-east New South Wales & south-east Queensland.
With Notes on their Conservation Status.
Text and any photos (none on this page yet)
Ó Allen Sundholm, 1998.Reference:
COMMON, I. F.B. & WATERHOUSE, D. F., 1981: "Butterflies of Australia", Revised Ed. Angus & Robertson Publishers.
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entom@eagles.bbs.net.auCONTENTS:-
Order LEPIDOPTERA
Family PAPILIONIDAE
Subfamily Papilioninae
Tribe Leptocircini
Genus Protographium Munroe, 1961
Protographium leosthenes leosthenes
(Doubleday), 1846.Comments: "Fourbar Swordtail".
This subspecies is endemic to Australia.An attractive "sword-tailed" species that can best be seen flying to the flowers of the introduced Lantana camara growing along roadsides and tracks in the rainforests of the region. Males will typically also be found flying a small generally circular territorial flight path at about 2 to 3 metres from the ground on the tops of hills and small clearings both in rainforest and in nearby drier Eucalyptus forests. Not shown to be endangered.
Genus Graphium Scopoli, 1777
Graphium macleayanum macleayanum
(Leach), 1814Comments: "Macleay's Swallowtail".
This subspecies is endemic to south-east Australia, a different subspecies occurs in north-east Queensland.A beautiful species that is quite common, mainly in rainforests, particularly at an altitude, but it also occurs down to sea level in a variety of habitats throughout the region. Sometimes also seen in urban backyards. Not shown to be endangered.
Graphium sarpedon choredon
(C. & R. Felder), 1864Comments: "Blue Triangle". Commonly seen in most habitats throughout the region. Common in urban gardens, often due to the fact that besides native host plants the lavae feed on the introduced and widespread Cinnamomum camphora (the "camphor laurel" tree). Not shown to be endangered.
Graphium eurypylus lycaon
(C. & R. Felder), 1865.Comments: "Pale Green Triangle".
This subspecies is endemic to Australia. Usually readily observable in both rainforests and Eucalyptus forests of the region. A very fast flier, adults can be seen flying to the flowers of the introduced Lantana camara growing along roadsides and tracks in the rainforests of the region. Adults are also often seen in rural and urbanised areas as the larvae feed on the introduced Custard Apple, Annona reticulata, which is commonly grown in Australia's more northerly urban gardens. Not shown to be endangered.
Genus Papilio Linnaeus, 1758
Papilio anactus
(W.S. Macleay), 1826Comments: "Dingy Swallowtail".
This species is endemic to Australia. Anecdotally, and from personal experience, the abundance of this unusual papilionid was once artificially inflated and, for example, it was a common sight as males patrolled territories in innumerable Sydney urban backyards. Its present abundance in the subject region however is unknown to me. However, it would appear that while its numbers in the wild have not yet been shown to have dropped, its numbers in urban areas where it's larvae feed on introduced Citrus have declined considerably, the likely suspect being pesticide spraying. Not shown to be endangered.Papilio aegeus aegeus
Donovan, 1805Comments: "Orchard Butterfly".
This quite large and striking subspecies is endemic to Australia. It is often seen in the region, occuring in a wide range of habitats, including urban gardens and citrus orchards, as its larvae feed not only on native species of various Rutaceae, but also quite readily on various species of introduced and ornamental Citrus. Not shown to be endangered.Papilio fuscus capaneus
Westwood, 1843Comments: "Capaneus Butterfly".
This subspecies is endemic to Australia. It is an attractive tailed species which can be common in the region, being the southern portion of its range, during particularly favourable years. In other seasons it may be quite infrequently seen. While the fresh specimens are a very dark colour, but not black, older specimens are bleached by the sun to a chocolate brown and the cream patches tend to become dingy. Not shown to be endangered.Papilio demoleus sthenelus
W.S. Macleay, 1826.Comments: "Chequered Swallowtail".
Subspecies is endemic to Australia and Sumba Island only (Indonesia). This butterfly flies very rapidly and is usually travelling in a particular direction, and have been seen to migrate in numbers in the far inland regions of the Australian continent. I have seen this species only very occassionally, but in August 1971 I saw numbers of this butterfly around a little roadside stop called Tea Tree Well, north of Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory. Their larvae may have been feeding on Citrus trees growing in adjacent gardens. Not shown to be endangered.
Genus Cressida Swainson, 1832
Cressida cressida cressdia
(Fabricius), 1775.Comments: "Big Greasy".
One of two subspecies of this butterfly which are endemic to Australia. One other subspecies occurs in New Guinea, and the genus is monotypic. This subspecies occurs as far south as Sydney, but it is very rare there. It is more common north of the Richmond River in north-eastern New South Wales. It can be found in dry and wet habitats, and can sometimes be seen in urban gardens. This genus is closely related to the South American genus Euryades. Both sexes have adults with transparent wings, the female being almost completely transparent with faint brownish markings. Adults fly slowly but are capable of very rapid flight. Not shown to be endangered.
Genus Ornithoptera Boisduval, 1832
Comments: "Richmond Birdwing".
This species is endemic to the region, ranging from Maryborough in south-east Queensland to the Clarence River area in north-east New South Wales. Common in its rainforest habitat in New South Wales but scarce in the north of its range. It occurs at all altitudes, and is in some seasons is the commonest butterfly seen. But in other seasons you may not see any at all in many areas. Occassionally, adults are found in Eucalyptus forests outside of rainforest. I have seen this species commonly in rainforests in various National Parks, such as Mt Warning National Park (NSW), Border Range National Park(NSW), Nightcap National Park (NSW) and Lamington National Park (QLD). I have also seen males occassionally hilltoping, but this does not seem to be for the usual territorial mate-finding reasons that other butterflies will hill-top for, so, as they are so long-lived, so maybe its just for something to do! Both males and females will fly at canopy-level, but males tend to be more adventerous.During the morning and afternoon both sexes readily fly down to feed at the flowers of that South American godsend-to-butterflies-the-world-over, Lantana camara, and once settled down will usually feed from flower to flower for long periods, fluttering their wings constantly. A magic sight. I have witnessed a female still feeding in near darkness at 6.30pm EST. In flight, birdwing butterflies are amongst the most graceful of all butterflies, often gliding seemingly effortlessly for long distances. The adults are almost never preyed upon, their bodies probably loaded with poisons from their larval hostplant, Aristolochia praevenosa and Aristolochia deltantha [Family Aristolochiaceae]. Not shown to be endangered. For a description of my first encounter with this tropical gem, click on
this. If there is enough demand, I might be persuaded to offer copies of videos that I have taken of this species. But don't hold your breath, this sort of thing takes time.
Family PIERIDAE
Subfamily Coliadinae
Genus Catopsilia Hubner, 1819
Catopsilia pyranthe crokera
(W.S. Macleay), 1826Comments: "Common Migrant". This subspecies is endemic to Australia, and occurs across all of eastern Australia except for Tasmania and much of South Australia. Its is very scarce in the southern part of its range, and usually only a little more common in the north-east of New South Wales. Immense migratory flights of this species have been reported, mainly in inland Queensland. Not shown to be endangered.
Catopsilia pomona pomona
(Fabricius), 1775This fast-flying Pierid occurs widely throughout the Oriental and Australian regions, and in Australia occurs across most of the northern half of the continent, and occassionally is seen along the east coast as far south as Melbourne in Victoria. The
endemic Australian subspecies has males with perhaps the richest lemon-yellow to be seen in the species. Some males are white with the yellow concentrated at the base of the wings, sometimes tinged with green. Other males have the wings entirely lemon yellow, and there are specimens that range in between. Females are smaller and have margins mottled in black, and are sometimes tinged with pink. Various seasonal and other forms exist. I have seen this subspecies in clouds of 20 or more (I have it on video) in a subtropical suburban garden flying back and forth above and near where two large trees of their larval host plant, Cassia fistula [Family Caesalpiniaceae] were growing. These trees had been nearly stripped of their leaves due to the number of larvae that had been feeding thereon.(This document is still incomplete, last updated 9th July 1998)
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entom@eagles.bbs.net.auNotes on definitions used:
Conservation Status: Status is determined by an assessment based on personal observation, and is readily visually confirmable by visiting the regions and seeing the taxa yourself. Take a video camera and record some of them live. I have. Whilst I fully support the protection of natural and regenerating habitats, I can only support the protection of an individual taxon where it is able to be shown to be endangered on a scientific basis. Very few taxa meet this criteria. I also perfectly realise that the assessments stated here in these web pages are hardly scientific, being entirely subjective, but they represent opinions which if I had sufficient resources (time, money, energy) I could develop and send to a scientific publisher a draft for peer review and hopefully publication. Unfortunately I don't have such resources to spare, but anyone is free to make their own assessments in a scientific publication of competent jurisdiction. You don't need a degree to engage in science, but most employees will want that bit of paper to justify employing you, even if you subsequently do lousy science! The point is, don't simply swallow so-called "scientific studies" or other claims by "qualified" persons or otherwise, stating that a certain species is endangered. The data data must be transparent (can be inspected yourself), has not been manipulated to support the author's or proponent's point of view, is repeatable, and cannot be readily contradicted by even a casual observation or unedited single-scene video recording.
Though I am no lawyer, the possibility of fraud may well arise in instances where a claim that a species is "endangered" (a subjective term anyway) is knowingly falsely made. Also, sheer ignorance and media hype can drum up false illusions as to a species true population status. Some statements made in the Australian media in recent years have claimed or assumed that
Ornithoptera richmondius (Gray), 1853 is endangered, some to the point of hysteria. I would submit that this claim or assumption is a patently wrong, as visitors to the region's rainforests at the right time during suitable weather conditions could repeatably support and show to others using video recordings. Though such observations hardly constitutes scientifically acceptable data, this species is readily observable nevertheless, and I would invite scientific researchers to undertake and publish truly competent assessments of this species at suitable times of the year, and do this each year for say 10 or 15 years or so to establish some idea of population variations over time.Sometimes size and colour is all you need to convince the public and governments that something is endangered, e.g. the situation with most butterflies listed on CITES is that most, if not all, have never been repeatedly scientifically shown to be endangered. In fact, I submit, based on my own observations in the wild and of personal communications from others (which I could, if I had the resources, confirm or deny myself , so I suggest you to go see them in the wild too), most CITES species are in fact normally quite common where their habitats are themselves not endangered e.g. by clearing or clear-fell logging. For example, I have seen for myself how common in their natural habitats some CITES species really are. In eastern and northern Australia, in Peninsular Malaysia, in northern Borneo, and in The Philippines, Ornithoptera priamus euphorion Gray, Ornithoptera richmondius (Gray), Triodes rhadamantus Lucas, Triodes andromache andromache Staudinger, Triodes plateni Staudinger, Trogonoptera brookiana albescens Rothschild are either locally or generally very common. (Other CITES-listed species occurring in those regions but omitted is regrettably due to the lack of opportunity to go see them in the wild as well.)
Note that to be a scientific study worthy of scientific interest, claimed observations must be repeatable. A one-off observation is at best a "scientific note" only, and while it may be of great interest, technically it has little value to science until the observation has been repeated at least once, and published, by an independent observer. Preferably, such observations should be incorporated in a more thorough study, and any conclusions drawn should be able to be re-drawn in later independent studies many many times. This is to help remove doubt from any initial conclusions. A one-off observation therefore represents a single data point only which must be repeatable to even begin to have scientific merit, and more thorough studies and their conclusions must be able to be repeated, and be repeated.
I note that many claims stating that certain species are "endangered" may prove to be false even if only through one's own observations to the contrary. Accept only those studies that have been conducted using scientific methodology, have been vetted by peers, are presented in a challangeable and open manner, and, I emphasis ad infinitum, are repeatable.
"Comments": Comments relate to adult individuals which may be observable in suitable localities during their normal adult flying period (e.g. as in Common & Waterhouse) on preferably warm sunny days.
"Common": Readily able to be observed in their habitat.
"Locally common": Readily able to be observed at specific sites in their habitat.
"Infrequent": May be seen only at odd times e.g. average of once per hour.
"Rare" Rarely seen. I defer to the fact that no species can possibly be so rare that it cannot successfully breed and survive in the wild.
Taxonomic Arrangement: Arrangement follows that in "Butterflies of Australia", I.F.B. Common & D. F. Waterhouse, Revised Ed., 1981. Angus & Robertson Publishers. As at April 1998, a new and comprehensive publication on the Australian butterfly fauna with both b & w and colour plates is in preparation by Dr M. Braby of ANIC, Division of Entomology, Black Mountain Road, Canberra 2600, Australia.
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