Butterflies of a Dorrigo Garden - and Moths
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    • Interesting facts
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    • Butterfly Gallery
    • Swallowtails >
      • Four-barred Swordtail (Protographium leosthenes)
      • Macleay's Swallowtail (Graphium macleayanum)
      • Blue Triangle (Graphium choredon)
      • Pale Triangle (Graphium euryplus)
      • Orchard Swallowtail (Papilio aegeus)
      • Chequered Swallowtail (Papilio demoleus)
      • Dainty Swallowtail (Papilio anactus)
      • Clearwing Swallowtail (Cressida cressida)
    • Skippers >
      • Narrow-banded Awl (Hasora Khoda)
      • Eastern Dusk-flat (Chaetocneme beata)
      • Bronze Flat (Netrocoryne repanda)
      • Southern Silver Orchre (Trapezites praxedes)
      • Ornate Ochre (Trapezites genevieveae)
      • Splendid Ochre (Trapezites symmomus)
      • Chequered Grass-skipper (Anisynta tillyardi)
      • Two-brand Grass-skipper (Anisynta dominula)
      • Barred Skipper (Dispar compacta)
      • Lilac Grass-skipper (Toxidia doubledayi)
      • White-brand Grass-skipper (Toxidia rietmanni)
      • Dingy Grass-skipper (Toxidia peron)
      • Dark Shield Skipper (Signeta Tymbophora)
      • Spotted Sedge-skipper (Hesperilla ornata)
      • Painted Sedge-skipper (Hesperilla picta)
      • Flame Sedge Skipper (Hesperilla idothea)
      • Orange Swift (Parnara amalia)
      • Grey Swift (Parnara bada)
      • White-banded Grass-dart (Taractrocera papyria)
      • White-margined Grass-dart (Ocybadistes hypomeloma)
      • Narrow-brand Grass Dart (Ocybadistes flavovittata)
      • Green Grass-dart (Ocybadistes walkeri)
    • Whites and Yellows >
      • White Migrant (Catopsilia pyranthe)
      • Lemon Migrant (Catopsilia pomona)
      • Orange Migrant (Catopsilia scylla)
      • Yellow Migrant (Catopsilia gorgophone)
      • Small Grass-yellow (Eurema smilax)
      • Large Grass-yellow (Eurema hecabe)
      • *Cabbage White (Pieris rapae)
      • Striated Pearl-white (Elodina parthia)
      • Southern Pearl-white (Elodina angulipennis)
      • Yellow Albatross (Appias paulina)
      • Caper White (Belenois java)
      • Caper Gull (Cepora perimale)
      • Yellow-spotted Jezebel (Delias nysa)
      • Spotted Jezebel (Delias aganippe)
      • Scarlet Jezebel (Delias argenthona)
      • Black Jezebel (Delias nigrina)
    • Nymphs >
      • Common Crow (Euploea core corinna)
      • Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
      • Lesser Wanderer (Danaus chrysippus)
      • Swamp Tiger (Danaus affinis)
      • Blue Tiger (Tirumala hamata)
      • Brown Ringlet (Hypocysta metirius)
      • Evening Brown (Melanitis leda)
      • Bright-eyed Brown (Heteronympha cordace)
      • Shouldered Brown (Heteronympha penelope)
      • Spotted Brown (Heteronympha paradelpha)
      • Common Brown (Heteronympha merope)
      • Banks' Brown (Heteronympha banksii)
      • Wonder Brown (Heteronympha mirifica)
      • Silver Xenica (Oreixenica lathoniella herceus)
      • Ringed Xenica (Geitoneura acantha)
      • Varied Sword Grass Brown (Tisiphone abeona regalis)
      • Tailed Emperor (Charaxes sempronius sempronius)
      • Glasswing (Acraea andromacha)
      • White-banded Plane (Phaedyma shepherdi)
      • Painted Lady (Vanessa kershawi)
      • Yellow Admiral (Vanessa itea)
      • Meadow Argus (Junonia villida calybe)
      • Varied Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina)
    • Blues >
      • Chequered Copper (Lucia limbaria)
      • Imperial Hairstreak (Jalmenus evagoras)
      • Glistening Pencil-blue (Candalides absilimis)
      • Dark Pencil-blue (Candalides consimilis)
      • Hairy Line-blue (Erysichton lineata)
      • Small Green-banded Blue (Psychonotis caelius taygetus)
      • Two-spotted Line-blue Nacaduba biocellata
      • Short-tailed Line-blue (Prosotas felderi)
      • Saltbush Blue (Theclinesthes serpentata)
      • Long-tailed Pea-blue (Lampides boeticus)
      • Orange-tipped Pea-blue (Everes lacturnus)
      • Plumbago Blue (Leptotes plinius)
      • Common Grass-blue (Zizina labradus)
    • Caterpillars
    • Plateau Butterflies
  • Butterfly Banquet
    • Butterfly Garden
    • Nectar plants
    • Nectar Plants list
    • Caterpillar Food Plants
  • I.D. Help
  • Moths
    • Moths
    • Hawk Moth introduction
    • Hawk Moths Gallery >
      • Acosmeryx anceus
      • Acosmeryx miskini
      • Agrius convolvuli (Convolvulus Hawk Moth)
      • Agrius godarti
      • Ambulyx dohertyi
      • Angonyx papuana
      • Cephonodes kingii (Gardenia Bee Hawk)
      • Cizara ardeniae (Coprosma Hawk Moth)
      • Coequosa australasiae
      • Coequosa triangularis (Double-headed Hawk Moth)
      • Daphnis moorei (syn. hypothous)
      • Daphnis placida
      • Daphnis protrudens
      • Eupanacra splendens
      • Gnathothlibus erotus eras
      • Hippotion boerhaviae
      • Hippotion brennus
      • Hippotion celerio
      • Hippotion johanna
      • Hippotion rosetta
      • Hippotion scrofa
      • Hippotion velox
      • Hyles livornicoides
      • Macroglossum alcedo
      • Macroglossum corythus
      • Macroglossum hirundo errans
      • Macroglossum insipida papuanum
      • Macroglossum micacea
      • Macroglossum nubilum
      • Macroglossum prometheus
      • Macroglossum vacillans
      • Meganoton rufescens
      • Nephele subvaria
      • Psilogramma overview
      • Psilogramma casuarinae
      • Psilogramma menephron (Privet Hawk Moth)
      • Psilogramma menephron
      • Psilogramma papuensis
      • Tetrachroa edwardsi
      • Theretra celata celata
      • Theretra latreillii
      • Theretra nessus
      • Theretra oldenlandiae (Impatiens Hawk Moth)
      • Theretra queenslandi
      • Theretra silhetensis
      • Theretra tryoni
      • To be identified
      • Draft Page
    • Emperors
    • Day-flying Moths
    • Other Moths
  • About us
  • Contact

Welcome to our website

PictureAustralian Painted Lady feeding on Mexican Orange flowers
This site is for nature lovers and gardeners who are interested to learn more about the butterflies that may visit a Dorrigo Plateau garden. You can also read what makes a butterfly paradise. We plan to continue to expand content as new species are discovered here.

Dorrigo is a small town on the tablelands of Northern New South Wales about 550k north of Sydney, NSW and approx 450k south of Brisbane, Qld.

Every butterfly included has been sighted on our Dorrigo Plateau property (approx 800 metres above sea level) at some time since 2005. A small number of these butterflies we were unable to photograph and temporarily have used other photos available to us. Of the 435 recorded species of Australian butterflies (mainland & island territories) we have identified 83 here as at January 2019.


We will show you some caterpillars (larvae) and chrysalises (pupae) to help you more fully understand their life cycle. If you gain enjoyment from seeing beautiful butterflies in your garden knowing how to protect and care for their early stages is very important too.

​The Butterfly Banquet page will show you how to encourage butterflies to visit your garden and stay a while.


The photographs (unless otherwise labelled) are ours and are taken on our property. The information is mostly from our own experience but includes some from the books listed on the Butterfly Gallery page.

​The News page is updated periodically. 


Happy butterfly gardening and spotting!

Picture
​As conservationists our butterfly collection is in the form of photographs.

With digital photography the days of amateur enthusiasts having to kill butterflies and pin them in a collection have gone.

​Today everyone can create an exciting collection of natural butterfly moments in the form of photographs leaving these beautiful insects to fly free and continue to reproduce offspring.

We think it important, for future reference, to keep records of our butterfly sightings and mostly keep these on a monthly basis. However with less common species we record how many times we sight them within the month as well. The full value of such data will only be known in the future when another enthusiast attempts to learn how each species is fairing in the conservation stakes.


Helpful hint

​Use the Butterfly Gallery page for initial identification. Click on the photo to go to the information page for that butterfly. Alternatively, go there via the drop-down menu for the Gallery page. 

Moths

Picture

​In addition to butterflies we are also interested in the study of larger moths, in particular Hawk Moths. Because of our deep interest in Hawk Moths we have extended our photos to include some we have photographed elsewhere in Australia - to ensure this does not create confusion we clearly show the location of each Hawk Moth sighting. Several contacts have also kindly supplied photos.

In addition we have included some of the other Plateau moths photographed on our property to give an idea of their beauty also.

Website acknowledgements



We give our warmest thanks to all who assist us over time either with the provision of photographs or by willingly undertaking reviews of our work helping to verify that the content of our website is correct.

We are particularly indebted to Trevor Lambkin and Kelvyn Dunn for their expert advice on butterfly identification, especially the difficult Skippers and Blues; to Phil Gilmour for being a constant source of expert advice on botanical matters as well as being a good butterfly spotter and to the other members of the Lepidoptera Group of N. E. NSW (TLCG) Mick Andren, Doug Binns, Peter Richards and Ross Macleay. Also to John Ross & Darren Moffatt for their assistance with butterfly information and to all our family and friends for helpful comments on layout and typos.

We acknowledge the Authors of the following books and publications from which we have acquired some of our lepidoptera and botanical knowledge over time:

* Butterflies of Australia - Their Identification, Biology & Distribution Vols #1 & #2 Michael F. Braby
2000
* The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia 2nd Edition - Michael F. Braby 2016
* The Butterflies of Australia - Albert Orr & Roger Kitching 2010
* All About Butterflies of Australia - Garry Sankowsky 2015
* Moths of Australia - I.F.B. Common 1990

* The website lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au
* Larval Food Plants of Hawk Moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) Affecting Commercial Crops in
   Australia - M. S. (Max) Moulds 1981
* Larval Food Plants of Hawk Moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) Affecting Garden Ornamentals
   in  Australia - M. S. (Max) Moulds 1984
* New Larval Food Plants For Australian Hawk Moths (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) - M. S. (Max)
   Moulds 1998
* Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia - A.G. Floyd 2008

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