Eastern Ringed Xenica

Description:

This beautiful Australian butterfly from the Satyrinae subfamily is orange and brown with distinctive eyespots. The forewings have a single eyespot above and below the wing. The hindwings have a single eyespot above and two spots on the underside.

Habitat:

Spotted in a meadow in the middle of mixed eucalypt/kunzea forest. Usual habitat is sheltered slopes and shady gullies in open forest, woodland. Range: south east Queensland and eastern New South Wales for this sub-species, and southern Victoria and South Australia for the ocrea subspecies.

Notes:

The adult butterflies have a wing span of about 4 cm. This butterfly flies close to the ground and settles frequently, using its camouflaged underside to avoid detection. There are two individuals found nearby in this spotting; the one in pictures 3 and 4 has slightly more orange. Did you know? In butterflies, by contrast to leopards and zebras, the same spots or stripes occur in virtually exactly the same location in all individuals of a species. Find out more here: http://www.biology.duke.edu/nijhout/imag...