This Lime or Chequered Swallowtail (Papilio demoleus subsp. sthenelus) sighting was the first specimen we’d seen in this area. A very active butterfly it was loath to sit still long, and usually kept it’s top wings fluttering ready for a quick escape.
It has a very distinctively marked body, continuing the black wing stripes down the thorax and abdomen. The inside of the wings displays a dense chequered pattern across the shoulders, and two distinctive spots on the outer margin of each hind wing – an upper one blue, often hidden by the top wing, and the lower more obvious spot a rusty orange.
Since the 100mm+ rainfall last week there has been a sudden increase in butterfly numbers and activity. The Tailed Emperors are here this year in great numbers on the figs, and are frequently seen chasing each other in pairs.
Lime or Chequered Swallowtail ButterflyFeeding on Duranta repens Geisha Girl flowersDistinctive blue and orange spots on the wings
A chance sighting of this Lime Swallowtail was a delightful bonus. It was flitting between three of our Duranta repens ‘Geisha Girl’ bushes, feeding on the nectar alongside numerous Australian Blue Banded Bees.
Chequered shoulder pattern on the wings.Orange spots, constantly moving wings.Lime or Chequered Swallowtail side profile.
The numbers and variety of wildlife that are frequenting our small plantings are increasing each year. The Lime Swallowtail apparently uses various citrus as larvae food plants, so they have a lot of variety here to choose from now. This seems to be the common thread – provide food plants (nectar) for the butterflies, and larvae food plants for the butterflies to lay their eggs on, and they will come.
Fiddler Beetles, 26th Feb, 2012Fiddler Beetle, 20th Dec 2011
The striking Fiddler Beetle has been a regular visitor over the past few years, ever since our flowers started blooming in our slowly establishing “garden”. Actually, it’s more of a half-garden half-weedbed, but when you refuse to use herbicides and are in the middle of a drought with water restrictions it’s hard to get competition for the weeds going.
This year however must be the Year of the Fiddler Beetle – they are here en-mass gorging themselves on the figs (click on any photo to enlarge).
The weather has been confusing for the trees – a lot of early spring rain and a dry but unusually cool summer. Some fruit trees stopped growing after the second summer cold spell, one peach even looked like it wanted to turn autumn colours – at Christmas!
The figs had a good start to their season, but after a couple of cold spells and one hot, dry and windy day many lost most if not all of their leaves and fruit development all but stopped. The remaining figs are ripening, although they are generally much smaller than usual.
Fiddler Beetles on figsPossibly matingFiddler Beetles and ants
This has been a bonus for the local crows, and now the Fiddler Bettles. Over-ripe fruit, dripping with nectar, and generally too small to be worth preserving are being carried off by fat, hungry crows and invaded by ants and beetles.
3 different individuals3 different sets of markingsAll attracted to over-ripe figs
The Fiddler Beetle (Eupoecila australasiae) is named for the striking violin shaped markings on its back. It is harmless, feeding on nectar from flowering plants. It lays eggs in rotting wood or damp ground, where the grubs develop feeding on the rotting wood.
In the summer of 2010 a hairy invasion began. First it was novel, one or two hairy caterpillars crawling through the aviary service area, or falling off the door frame whenever the sliding door was opened. As summer progressed the numbers of these hairy brown caterpillars increased dramatically until they were everywhere – up the walls, along the skirting boards, in the door frame and in the curtain folds. Then they started to pupate, turn into moths … and lay eggs.
Male (top) and female (bottom) White Cedar Moths
By this time we had enough information and specimens to identify the invaders and they were positively id as White Cedar Moths, Leptocneria reducta. We have a number of young White Cedar trees planted to provide summer shade to the aviaries so another piece of the puzzle fell into place.
White Cedar Moth laying eggs, 5th March, 2011
The moths were almost as numerous as the caterpillars, and before long there were clusters of eggs on the service-way walls and dead moths all over the floor and trapped between the polycarbonate and aviary mesh. The moths themselves are nothing spectacular, in fact almost drab. Their egg clusters are intriguing and conveniently some were in plain enough view that we were able to observe and record their progression to hatching.
White Cedar Moth caterpillars hatch, 15th March 2011
The caterpillars emerged en-mass, hung around for the day, and by the next morning had all disappeared. There was no sign of them or their egg cases. It is possible some may have survived to reach the White Cedar trees as there were no suitable food plants any closer. Or they may have fallen prey to a hungry spider or centipede. No further sign of juvenile caterpillars was seen inside the aviary service area or bird-room.
During autumn however, the White Cedar trees acquired woolly, hairy “trunk-warmers”. Masses of White Cedar Moth caterpillars congregated at the base of the tree trunks. Presumably under the cover of darkness they venture up the trees to wreck havoc on the leaves. While some damage is evident, it does not seem to concern the trees, which are deciduous, and have just about lost all their leaves by June.
White Cedar Moth caterpillars on White Cedar tree trunkWhite Cedar Moth caterpillars at base of White Cedar treeWhite Cedar Moth caterpillar damage to White Cedar leaves.
The mass of caterpillars, armed with spiky and irritating hairs, would pose an unpleasant barrier for anything else small wanting to climb the tree or gnaw on it’s lower bark. Perhaps this behaviour is their way of protecting their food supply – the trees and their leaves – from other potential competitors or threats.
White Cedar Moth caterpillar close up of spiky hairs.
White Cedar Moths belong to the Leptocneria family, and both the moths and caterpillars are yet another in the “handle with care” category. Their hairs are irritants and will shed easily. The caterpillars might look cute and furry – but they are definitely not! Do not let children play with them. The hairs can not only cause skin irritations in humans, they have also been implicated in abortions in horses. The caterpillars, pupae, and moths are all sources of irritating hairs, which retain their irritant properties long after they have been shed.
The White Cedars have been seriously defoliated this year, but there is no sign of the catterpillars around the base of the trees. Unlike last year however, the grass is dry and short. The caterpillars may be hiding in the dry leaf litter and grass during the day, emerging at night …
Caterpillars streaming up the branches.Adult caterpillars and egg clusters on a lower leaf.Half grown Cedar Moth caterpillar.
Which is indeed what they are doing. An evening torchlight visit to the White Cedars revealed them to be literally crawling with big, fat, White Cedar Moth caterpillars. They were streaming up the branches in lines, shunning away from the light from the torch (click for large photo which will open in another window/tab).
The underside of the leaves (or what’s left of them) were bristling with hungry, hairy catterpillars.
White Cedar full of Cedar Moth caterpillars.Caterpiilars hug the underside of the leaves.Close up of the Cedar Moth caterpillar's grip.
The trees themselves seem to be responding with new emergent growth at the tips. It will be interesting to see if this new growth is as tasty, or whether the trees are able to defend themselves and become less palatable as some other plants can.
The absence of caterpillars during the day this year may indicate they prefer dry grass and leaf litter, and disliked the lush grass and damp ground experienced in previous years. This has implications for potential organic control of them should they become a problem that the trees cannot cope with by themselves.
