Timoconia tymbophora

Timoconia tymbophora (Meyrick & Lower, 1902)
Dark Shield-skipper
(previously known as Telesto tymbophora)
TRAPEZITINAE, HESPERIIDAE, HESPERIOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

This Caterpillar is fawn coloured with green between the segments, and dark lines along the body. It grows to a length of about 2 cms. It has been found feeding on various sedges in the family CYPERACEAE, including :

Hubbard's Sedge ( Carex hubbardii ), and

Red Fruit Saw Sedge ( Gahnia sieberiana ).

It feeds at dusk, resting by day in a shelter made by rolling and joing leaves together with silk at the base of a foodplant.

female
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

This adult male butterfly has dark brown forewings and with a dark splodge in the middle. The female forewings also have a number of white spots. The hind wings of both sexes are plain dark brown.

underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The undersides are paler versions of the upper surfaces. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

The eggs are white, and develop pink markings. They are laid on leaf litter near a tussock of a foodplant.

The species is found in

southern Queensland, and

New South Wales.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp 140-141.

Edward Meyrick & Oswald B. Lower,
Revision of the Australian Hesperiadae,
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
Volume 26, Part 2 (1902), pp. 70-71, No. 27.

caterpillar

Australian
Australian Butterflies

butterflies

Australian
home

Lepidoptera

Australian
Australian Moths

moths

caterpillar

(updated 28 July 2000, 5 January 2024)