Alice Springs Fauna •
Alice Springs ButterfliesBlue Moon Butterfly Caper White Butterfly, Egg and Instar Glasswing (Acraea andromacha) Lesser Wanderer (Danaus petilia) Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore)
Hypolimnas bolina, aka the Blue Moon Butterfly is the common name given to this species in New Zealand and is one of the species of butterfly that has been sighted in Alice Springs. In Australia they are commonly known as the Common Eggfly Butterfly, the Varied Eggfly Butterfly and the Great Eggfly.
The male of the Common Eggfly Butterfly vary from the female in that the wings of the butterfly is dark to almost blackish in colour with three pairs of white spots that are surrounded with a luminous blue sometimes purple colour, on the upper part of the wings. That accounts for the Blue Moon Butterfly common named.
Hypolimnas bolina is a black-bodied species with a high degree of sexual dimorphism, that describes the differences in appearance between the males and females of the same species. It is the female of the species that is mimetic with multiple morphs. This describes the variation in the colours and patterns, making the female butterfly of the species very variable.
The female of the species differ in colouration, in that the upperside of the wings are shades of brown, black and white. They do not have any spots like those of the male.
Check out our blog on the Faces of the Blue Moon…
Checkout our section on Butterflies | Common Eggfly Butterfly | Blue Moon Butterfly and our blog Faces of the Blue Moon…
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Lepidoptera
- Family: Nymphalidae
- Genus: Hypolimnas
- Species: Hypolimnas bolina
- Subspecies:
there are a number of sub-species found around the world including the following two that are also found in Australia- — H. b. bolina
- — H. b. nerina
Alice Springs ButterfliesBlue Moon Butterfly Caper White Butterfly, Egg and Instar Glasswing (Acraea andromacha) Lesser Wanderer (Danaus petilia) Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore)
Alice Springs Butterflies & Moths (Lepidopterans)Butterflies Moths
Alice Springs FaunaAlice Springs Native Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Birds Alice Springs Gastropods (Gastropoda) Alice Springs Insects Alice Springs Marsupials Alice Springs Reptiles Alice Springs Spiders
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander
Alice SpringsAlice Springs Accommodation Alice Springs Pet Friendly Accommodation Alice Springs Art & Culture Alice Springs Attractions Alice Springs Directory Alice Springs Distance Alice Springs Festival & Events Alice Springs Flora and Fauna Alice Springs Fauna Alice Springs Flora Getting Around Alice Springs Alice Springs Aboriginal Tours Alice Springs Tours Alice Springs Tours – Other