Marbled Xenica

Description:

Geitoneura klugii, also known as the "common xenica" or "Klug's xenica", is a species of butterfly belonging to the family Nymphalidae. This is a really interesting family group, mainly because most of its species have a reduced pair of forelegs, and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. It's interesting in the sense that it looks like they only have four legs, but insects are supposed to have six. What gives? They are often called "brush-footed butterflies" or "four-footed butterflies" because they only have four 'walking' legs, while the other two are curled up in front. In some species, these forelegs have a brush-like set of hairs, and this gives rise to the other common name. These brushes are used to clean its face, antennae and proboscis. The marbled xenica is an orange and brown butterfly. The forewings are chequered orange and brown with a small eyespot on the upper and lower surface. The upper surface of the hindwing is similar with less complex markings, and the underside is dull brown. But dull is good because it affords the opportunity to see the wing veins and general structure very clearly. Body length is usually up to about 4.5cms. This spotting is most likely an older individual as one of its hindwings is damaged and looks rather tatty (3rd photo). The last photo is of a second specimen I spotted nearby. The underside of it's wings appear to me much hairier than the first.

Habitat:

Spotted along the Mt. Norman track in Girraween National Park, southeast Queensland. Here's some park info - http://www.rymich.com/girraween/ This species inhabits woodlands, mallee scrub, grassy clearings and glades, at elevations between about 100-1000 metres. The adults rarely visit flowers and are more commonly observed at rest on the ground or among grasses, and in this case, the leaf litter and grasses along the track.

Notes:

There are currently three recognised Geitoneura species - acantha, klugii and minyas, all of which are endemic to Australia. G. minyas is only found in the southwest of WA, whereas the other two are east coast species. All three have similar patterns on the upper surface, but are easily distinguished from each other by differences on the undersides. This spotting's closely-related cousin, the "ringed xenica" (Geitoneura acantha), is listed on the Girraween website, whereas the marbles xenica isn't, so the ringed xenica is where my research started. However, it soon became apparent my spotting was not this species, and it was the underside of the wing that led me to an accurate ID of this specimen.