''Allora major'', the greater peacock awl, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

. It is found as several subspecies in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and adjacent islands, and on Cape York,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is about 40 mm for males and 50 mm for females. The larvae probably feed on ''

Corynocarpus cribbianus ''Corynocarpus'' is the only genus of plants in the family Corynocarpaceae and includes five species. It is native to New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu. Species # '' Corynocarpus cribbianus'' (F. M. Bailey) L. S. Sm. ...

''.

Subspecies

*''Allora major major'' *''Allora major lectra'' Evans, 1949 ( Schouten Island) *''Allora major talesia'' Evans, 1949 (

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

)

External links

Australian InsectsAustralian Faunal Directory
Coeliadinae Butterflies described in 1915 Butterflies of Australia Insects of Papua New Guinea Taxa named by Walter Rothschild {{Hesperiidae-stub