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Glasswing Butterfly
Acraea andromacha ssp. andromacha
-27.4925, 152.755
Field Notes
Description:
My first encounter with a Glasswing Butterfly, aka Little Greasy and Small Greasy. It has a wingspan from 50-60 mm, and its forewings are almost transparent with a few black spots. Its hind wings are creamy yellow with black spot patterns. Caterpillars feed on several species of passion vine (Passiflora sp.), many of which can be found in Brisbane bushlands. The last photo shows one of the vines I spotted There are three subspecies - Acraea andromacha ssp. andromacha (Timor Sea, Northern Australia to New South Wales), A.a.sanderi (Papua New Guinea), and A.a.oenome (Islands of South-Eastern coast of Papua).
Habitat:
This spotting was at Lake Manchester, a freshwater reservoir west of Brisbane. It is located in Brisbane Forest Park, an area of dense native bushland and subtropical rainforest. I found this butterfly resting in the grassy section of the bush track.
Notes:
The Glasswing Butterfly belongs to the family Nymphalidae. This is an interesting family group because most have a reduced pair of forelegs, and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. They are also called 'brush-footed butterflies' or 'four-footed butterflies' because they are known to stand on only four legs while the other two are curled up; in some species, these forelegs have a brush-like set of hairs, which gives this family its other common name.
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