Eggfly caterpillar earns right to keep munching

Nature Watch by Don McGlusky of Diddillibah

I recently noticed a section of one of our shrubs was being defoliated and as there are some Common Eggfly butterflies about it didn’t take long to find the suspect.

The Eggfly caterpillar is about 60mm in length prior to pupating, black, with orange tubercles all over the body, and a pair of tubercles on its head which can be either black or orange. 

Unfortunately, people tend to react negatively when they find such a caterpillar and are inclined to “squish” it. 

It suffers many hazards: mainly from hungry birds so very few become butterflies so be benevolent and let it keep munching.

The male butterfly displays a gleaming blue sheen on a black base, marked with three white spots on its wings.  The females are a brown and cream, and do not have the egg marks or the iridescent blue on the wings. 

They have a wingspan of 80mm and a lifespan of 7 to 8 weeks.

Unfortunately, the male butterflies contracted a disease that almost wiped them out and by 2000 they were in peril.  Fortunately, they have recovered fairly well. Incidentally, the shrub is recovering as well.