Spotted Sedge-skipper Hesperilla ornata
Wingspan: 30 - 35mm
Sighted Claire Cottage: Nov - April
Distribution: Cape York, FNQ then sporadically through QLD, through NSW & eastern VIC
Status Claire Cottage: uncommon but becoming more common each year
Status Dorrigo Plateau: unknown
Wingspan: 30 - 35mm
Sighted Claire Cottage: Nov - April
Distribution: Cape York, FNQ then sporadically through QLD, through NSW & eastern VIC
Status Claire Cottage: uncommon but becoming more common each year
Status Dorrigo Plateau: unknown
Female Spotted Sedge-skipper in early morning dew 17 Nov 2013 08.21am
Male Spotted Sedge-skipper 22 Jan 2016 08.40am
Their numbers are growing! Spotted Sedge-skipper, Claire Cottage Dorrigo, 8 Dec 2020 3.12pm
Spotted Sedge-skipper female upperside 22 Dec 2012 11.44am
Spotted Sedge-skipper, Claire Cottage Dorrigo, 8 Dec 2020 03.13pm
Spotted Sedge-skipper female 22 Dec 2012 11.44am
Spotted Sedge-skipper male 22 Jan 2016 08.40am
You can see pollen on this female Spotted Sedge-skipper's legs, 20 Dec 2017, 7.39am
We've noticed that in some of the Spotted Sedge-skippers we see there is a tuft of orange hairs behind the head/prothorax area that is not mentioned in descriptions of the butterfly we've seen.
You can see a glimpse of it in some of the photos on this page including this one. We are endeavouring to discover what it is.
Photographed Jan 2018.
Female Spotted Sedge-skipper 1 Jan 2018, 12.39pm
Spotted Sedge-skipper Hesperilla ornata
Wingspan: 30 - 35mm
Sighted Claire Cottage: Nov - April
Distribution: Cape York, FNQ then sporadically through QLD, through NSW & eastern VIC
Status Claire Cottage: uncommon but becoming more common each year
Status Dorrigo Plateau: unknown
Butterfly Sightings:
Larval Food Plants:
Habitat where found at Claire Cottage: Rainforest edge
Flight habit: Throughout the day.
Interesting Observations: The Spotted Sedge-skipper occurs here both in the garden and along our rainforest margins. It is a lovely little butterfly being one of the easier Skippers to identify with its beautiful black and white underside to its wings.
Like many other skippers the larvae feed at night. During the day they stay hidden in shelters they make amongst the leaves of their foodplant.
Last autumn sighting - Dorrigo Plateau: 10/04/18, a newly emerged wild speciman 30/04/20,
Wingspan: 30 - 35mm
Sighted Claire Cottage: Nov - April
Distribution: Cape York, FNQ then sporadically through QLD, through NSW & eastern VIC
Status Claire Cottage: uncommon but becoming more common each year
Status Dorrigo Plateau: unknown
Butterfly Sightings:
- CLAIRE COTTAGE: Nov 2016, Dec 2006, 2010, 2011(f), 2012, 2016, 2017, 2020 Jan 2002, 2012, 2016, 2018, Feb 2021 Mar 2008 Apr 2005
- DORRIGO PLATEAU elsewhere: None to Date
- CLAIRE COTTAGE: None to date
- DORRIGO PLATEAU elsewhere: None to date
Larval Food Plants:
- CLAIRE COTTAGE: CYPERACEAE: Carex brunnea, C. longebrachiata, Gahnia aspera, G. clarkei, G.sieberiana
- DORRIGO PLATEAU elsewhere: (as for Claire Cottage)
- ELSEWHERE: (as for Claire Cottage plus) CYPERACEAE: - Carex appressa, C. maculata, Gahnia erythrocarpa, G.grandis, G. melanocarpa, G. radula,
Habitat where found at Claire Cottage: Rainforest edge
Flight habit: Throughout the day.
Interesting Observations: The Spotted Sedge-skipper occurs here both in the garden and along our rainforest margins. It is a lovely little butterfly being one of the easier Skippers to identify with its beautiful black and white underside to its wings.
Like many other skippers the larvae feed at night. During the day they stay hidden in shelters they make amongst the leaves of their foodplant.
Last autumn sighting - Dorrigo Plateau: 10/04/18, a newly emerged wild speciman 30/04/20,
