Butterfly report 
... Valda Dedman 
S ummertime is the time of the Browns, first the 
Common Browns, both male and female interacting, 
then just the males. Just before Christmas there were 
wonderful displays of butterflies feeding at the flowering 
grasstree spike in the Twentieth Century Garden at that 
butterfly hotspot, the Geelong Botanic Gardens. Twenty to 
thirty butterflies at a time, in a mix of Common Browns and 
Yellow Admirals, some of which David Tytherleigh has put 
together in a montage. In January we start to see the 
smaller, darker Xenicas. 
There are four local butterflies to which we give the name 
of Xenica, two Geitoneura species and two Oreixenica. All 
of them fly close to the ground; the Geitoneuras, the 
Ringed and the Marbled Xenica, both have a slow jerky 
flight, while the Orixenicas, the Silver and the Striped, 
have a slow weak flight. Both the latter two species roost 
at night; the Silver in loose clusters in Carex swamps and 
the Striped in large numbers on grass tussocks. 
Geitoneura males have a sex-mark on the forewing, 
consisting of a nearly straight oblique band of dull blackish 
raised scales. In autumn each Silver Xenica female hovers 
above the grass, closely followed by a number of males. 
Our present records do not include any Silver Xenicas, but 
they are known historically from the Otways and the 
Brisbane Ranges. The Xenicas get their common names 
from the underwing patterning of their hindwings—big 
round eyespots on the Ringed, grey-brown marbling on 
the Marbled, stripes and a silvery-white band on the 
Striped and extensive bright silvery-white markings on the 
Silver which is significantly smaller than the superficially 
similar Ringed Xenica. They all live in open forest and 
woodland. 
Observers: DHe, Dean Hewish; DTy, David Tytherleigh; GF, Glenn 
Fletcher, GMc, Gordon McCarthy; JH, Joe Hubbard; JN, John Newman; 
MHe, Marilyn Hewish; SI, Shona Innes; TP, Trevor Pescott; VWD, Valda 
Dedman 
Mating Common Grass-blues Photo: David Tytherleigh 
Montane Ochre 
06/12/12 
Brisbane Ranges, Little River Picnic Ground, 1 photographed 
SI, TP 
Greenish Grass-dart 
06/12/12 
Belmont, present 
JH 
Cabbage White 
06/12/12 
Little River Picnic Ground, a few 
SI, TP 
Ringed Xenica 
01/01/13 
Brisbane Ranges, Sapling Gully, 1 photographed 
MHe 
18/01/13 
Southern Lerderderg Gorge. 1, photographed 
MHe, DHe 
Marbled Xenica 
14/01/13 
Ocean Grove Nature Reserve, several with Common Browns, photographed 
MHe 
Common Brown 
27/11/12 
Belmont, m & f mating in garage 
JH 
02/12/12 
Belmont, Victoria Tee, a few m & f present 
TP 
06/12/12 
Brisbane Ranges, Anakie Gorge, a few 
SI, TP 
06/12/12 
Brisbane Ranges, Little River picnic ground, a few males swarming on a Black Wattle trunk. Flew 
off when approached. No evidence of sucking sap, phoographed 
SI, TP 
08/12/12 
Belmont, present, buddleia popular with them 
JH 
23/12/12 
Geelong Botanic Gardens, many m & f feeding on flowers of grasstree spike with Yellow Admirals, 
photographed 
DTy 
27/12/12 
Belmont, now females flying 
JH 
02/01/13 
Brisbane Ranges NP, hundreds, exhilarating 
JH 
08/01/13 
You Yangs, many swarming on trunk of a Sugar Gum, photographed 
TP 
14/01/13 
Ocean Grove Nature Reserve, many m & f flying together 
GMc 
18/01/13 
Southern Lerderderg Gorge, no females many males, 
MHe 
Shouldered Brown 
02/01/13 
Brisbane Ranges NP, many, hard to quantify 
JH 
Australian Painted Lady 
01/12/12 
Yaugher, 1 
TP 
06/12/12 
Belmont, present 
JH 
06/12/12 
Brisbane Ranges, Aeroplane Rd, many 
SI, TP 
27/12/12 
Belmont, present 
JH 
17/12/12 
Belmont, present 
JH 
Yellow Admiral 
01/12/12 
Yaugher, 1 (Nettles left in garden to provide larval food supply) 
TP 
06/12/12 
Belmont, present 
JH 
06/12/12 
Brisbane Ranges, Aeroplane Rd, many 
SI, TP 
08/12/12 
Belmont, present 
JH 
23/12/12 
Geelong Botanic Gardens, many feeding on flowers of grasstree spike with Common Browns 
DTy 
08/01/13 
You Yangs, many swarming with Common Browns on trunk of a Sugar Gum 
TP 
Varied Dusky-blue 
06/12/12 
Brisbane Ranges, Aeroplane Rd, 1 
SI, TP 
Saltbush Blue 
27/01/13 
Barwon Estuary, common in Atriplex 
TF, GF 
Long-tailed Pea-blue 
06/12/12 
Belmont, present 
JH 
08/12/12 
Ocean Grove Woodlands Drive, 6 around garden in afternoon 
TF 
Common Grass-blue 
06/12/12 
Belmont, present 
JH 
19/01/13 
East Geelong, 2 mating, photographed 
DTy 
10 Geelong Naturalist February 2012 
