The Acraea andromacha butterfly, commonly known as the Glasswing, Little Greasy and Small Greasy, belongs to the family Nymphalidae.
The common name is derived from the forewings that appear almost transparent with a few black spots. The hind wings of the Glasswing are creamy yellow with black spot patterns.
The Glasswing has a wingspan of about 60 mm. Both male and female are similar in appearance. The male Glasswing display territorial behaviour.
The caterpillars are an orange-brown colour, with black branched spines.
At time of writing, the Acraea andromacha larvae have been found feeding on Adenia heterophylla, Passiflora cinnabarina, Passiflora foetida, Passiflora herbertiana, Passiflora mollissima, Passiflora suberosa, Passiflora subpeltata, Hybanthus aurantiacus and Hybanthus enneaspermus.3
The pupa can be orange-brown in colour, with brown spots that are circled with bold black line4 or white with bold black lines, that circle yellow spots5. They are usually found on the vines of host plants and nearby blades of grass.
The Glasswing butterfly is found along coastal and heading inland from around the top of Western Australia, Northern Territory and down the east coast of Queensland, New South Wales, with sightings in Victoria. It has also be seen in Alice Springs, Central Australia. Subspecies are found in New Guinea and surround islands.1
The Glasswing butterfly pictured here was photographed in a urban garden in Alice Springs on a flowering Duranta Geisha Girl (Duranta erecta) shrub.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Lepidoptera
- Unranked: Ditrysia
- Superfamily: Papilionoidea
- Family: Nymphalidae
- Subfamily: Heliconiinae
- Tribe: Acraeini
- Genus: Acraea
- Species: Acraea andromacha
Footnote & References
- Acraea andromacha (Fabricius, 1775), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/0e6b438c-85df-4e1c-a6a4-1273fa8ac198
- Glasswing (Acraea andromacha), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/472814-Acraea-andromacha
- Acraea andromacha, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acraea_andromacha
- Glasswing Butterfly – Acraea andromacha, Brisbane Insects, https://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_nymphs/Glasswing.htm
- Acraea andromacha (Fabricius, 1775) Glasswing, Coffs Harbour Butterfly House, Australian Caterpillars and their Butterflies and Moths, http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/nymp/andromacha.html
ButterfliesAcraea andromacha Caper White Butterfly Chequered Swallowtail Butterfly Common Eggfly Butterfly Meadow Argus Orchard Swallowtail Butterfly Yellow Palm Dart
InsectsBees Beetles Blattodea Butterflies Coleoptera Cicada Crabronidae Diptera Dragonflies & Damselflies Formicidae Hemiptera Heteroptera (True Bugs) Mango Planthopper Moths Orthoptera Orthopteroid Processionary Caterpillar Stink Bugs, Shield Bugs and Allies Syrphidae Wasps Water Scorpion (Laccotrephes tristis) Witchetty Grub