Klug's Xenica
Male, Forewing, under
Ellura
Black-rimmed Brown
Male, Forewing, under
 
                      
Black-rimmed Brown (Heteronympha merope ssp merope)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Brown Butterfly (Papilionoidea: Nymphalidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Black-rimmed Brown (Heteronympha merope ssp merope)
This Photo:     Male, dorsal
Other name: Common Brown

Thank you Leon Crang, Reiner Richter, Alan Melville & Matt Endacott for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills, the Flinders Ranges and elsewhere
Male ~17mm body length & ~60mm wingspan. Female was considerably larger at ~17mm body length & ~80mm wingspan.
As can be seen the males & females look completely different and easily considered different species.
They also emerge at different times of the year; which doesn't make sense at first. The thinking is that only the strongest males are still alive to mate.
Thanks to Leon for later taking the id further down to sub-species


Similar Species: Klug's Xenica (Geitoneura klugii)

Copyright © 2016-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 14-Dec-2016
This species is classed as C (Common) on the South Australian Butterflies & Moths website