New Butterfly Sighting for Boonah Area

Chaetocneme denitza, Ornate Dusk-flat

Found in a garden in Dugandan in October last year, the Chaetocneme denitza, Ornate Dusk-flat or Rare Redeye, is not often seen.This lovely skipper* was lucky to be found. And it was very lucky that such a brilliant photograph was taken by Joan Kielly for it didn’t hang around for long. The sighting has been confirmed by Wes Jenkinson, a well-known lepidopterist from Beaudesert.

It was found in a typical position for the species, hanging upside down on the underside of a leaf with its wings outstretched. It was on a rose bush but the caterpillars feed on Eucalypts and Lophostemons such as Brush Box and Swamp Mahogany.

The adults are crepuscular: i.e. active during twilight. During the day they usually rest under a leaf. 

Their distribution is from the Qld-NSW border north to Cape York, then west across the top of the Northern Territory and into Western Australia. They are not often seen, as one of their names suggests. In se Qld they fly between October/November and February in open eucalypt forests of coastal and sub-coastal areas.

 (*Although Skipper butterflies share certain characteristics with other butterflies, particularly in egg, larval and pupal stages, they differ in several important ways. They have the antennae clubs hooked backward like a crochet needle, whilst other butterflies have club-like tips to their antennae. Skippers also have stockier bodies with stronger wing muscles. They are named for their quick, darting flight habits. More than 3500 species of skippers are recognised worldwide.)