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Dispar compacta
A beautiful small butterfly with a wing span of about 20mm. The head and thorax appeared to be covered with olive-green "fur". The wings although generally grey on the upper side, shimmered with shades of purple. There were clearly defined pale patches on both sides of the wings. Pics #1 & #2 show a grey-coloured set of patches on the fore wing. This indicates that this butterfly is male.
Open grasslands. caterpillars feed on species of grass, sedge and rush.
The caterpillar of this butterfly feeds on tussock grass. This butterfly was spotted on a reserve. It was difficult to take better pictures of the butterfly's wings. It was extremely windy and even the butterfly had a hard time staying put. This is a truly beautiful butterfly -very well camouflaged. I saw another one of these in a national park last week -they are around. Family: Hesperiidae Subfamily: Trapezitinae
Spotted on Jan 31, 2012
Submitted on Jan 31, 2012
2 Comments
Thanks Martin. The one I saw in Sherbrooke flew away before I could even position my camera. the wind probably helped and does make sense about them staying put when windy.
Nice shot leuba. I saw it too but it flew off quickly. Maybe the wind would make it reluctant to fly away. Well done.