''Heteronympha cordace'', the bright-eyed brown, is a brown colored butterfly endemic to

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 ...

. It was described by

Carl Geyer Peter Carl Friedrich Geyer (1802–1889) was a German entomologist who wrote and illustrated various supplements to Jacob Hübner's works on Lepidoptera. Carl Geyer was by profession an artist. He is not to be confused with Karl Andreas Geyer (180 ...

in 1832.

Description

''Heteronympha cordace'' has a wingspan ranging from , with females generally larger than males and with stouter abdomens. The uppersides of the wings are black to dark brown with orange to brownish-orange markings. The markings contain a blue-centered black

subapical A subapical consonant is a consonant made by contact with the underside of the tip of the tongue. The only common subapical articulations are in the postalveolar to palatal region, which are called "retroflex". Most so-called retroflex consonants ...

eyespot and a larger blue-centered black subtornal eyespot. The underside of the wings are lighter in hue and have more extensive orange areas.

Range

The ''Heteronympha cordace'' butterfly occurs in disjunct populations across Australia, in New South Wales, southern Victoria, south eastern South Australia, and Tasmania. Populations of the butterfly are known from swampy areas in the alpine of the Great Divide to coastal areas in both the east and west. It is not common in any areas and colonies tend to be static, and many populations have become

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

as a result of habitat loss.

Ecology

Adult butterflies have a slow, meandering flight pattern close to the ground among the larval host plants, and near food plants ''

Melaleuca ''Melaleuca'' () is a genus of nearly 300 species of plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, commonly known as paperbarks, honey-myrtles or tea-trees (although the last name is also applied to species of '' Leptospermum''). They range in size ...

'' and ''

Leptospermum ''Leptospermum'' is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae commonly known as tea trees, although this name is sometimes also used for some species of ''Melaleuca''. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the greate ...

'' that grow near the breeding habitat. One generation is completed annually, with adults occurring mainly from late December to February. It is fond of sedgeland and low shrubland in swamps and along creeks, often with dense stands of the larval food plant. It occurs mostly at altitudes from but can occur as low as sea level in Tasmania. The larval food plant of ''Heteronympha cordace'' is ''

Carex appressa ''Carex appressa'', the tall sedge, is a species of flowering plant in the family Cyperaceae. It is native to New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and generally in the South West Pacific. Description ''Carex appressa'' is a densely tufted, pere ...

''. The female butterfly lays a single egg or very few on the underside of the lower leaves of ''Carex appressa''. The eggs are in diameter, green, nearly spherical, and have thin longitudinal ribs. The larva is green to greenish brown and generally long. The larva has a darker middorsal line with paler

dorsolateral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

and lateral lines. The head of the larva is slightly concave and reddish brown to mottled brown. The pupa of the butterfly is green with greenish-yellow wings, and about long. Pupation occurs either on a low leaf of a host plant or nearby a host plant, and the pupa is suspended with its head downwards by the cremaster.

Subspecies

*''Heteronympha cordace cordace'' (southern New South Wales to Victoria: Mt. Buangor) *''Heteronympha cordace wilsoni'' Burns, 1948 (Victoria: Grampians) *''Heteronympha cordace comptena'' Couchman, 1954 (Tasmania: central and west coast) *''Heteronympha cordace kurena'' Couchman, 1954 (Tasmania: Cradle Mountains) *''Heteronympha cordace legana'' Couchman, 1954 (Tasmania: Lake Leake, Mount Barrow)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13229336 Satyrinae Butterflies of Australia Butterflies described in 1832