Monday, April 9, 2012

Australian Rustic Butterfly

Yesterday morning we spotted this butterfly (there were actually at least two) moving around and resting on a medium sized shrub/small tree near the front of the property.  We  have several times over the years considered the ID of the plant but have never come to a definite conclusion -  I have thought it to be a Eugenia sp but it looks like I might need to alter that.



The butterfly is an Australian Rustic or  Cupha prosope



The above website mentions four native plants that are host plants:
-Coffee Plum (Flacourtia jangomas) Flintwood (Scopia braunii) and Xylosma ovatum and terraereginae.  Assuming the butterfly has sought this plant out as a host plant it helps with the plant ID. This is the first occasion we have  seen this species of butterfly here in Chandler.

1 comment:

BernieH said...

Great looking little butterfly. Sorry I can't help with an I.D. on that shrub. Whatever it is, it's doing a fantastic job of attracting butterflies.