''Tisiphone abeona'', the swordgrass brown, is a

nymphalid The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

butterfly. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 wings of the adult are brown and have a

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 ...

of about 60 mm. The larvae feed on ''

Gahnia ''Gahnia'' (sawsedge, saw-sedge) is a genus of sedges native to China, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand and a number of Pacific Islands. The common name is due to the toothed margins. It often forms tussocks. Species Accept ...

'' species.

Subspecies

* ''T. a. abeona'' (Donovan, 1805) (New South Wales, from the Hunter River south) * ''T. a. albifascia'' Waterhouse, 1904 (eastern Victoria) * ''T. a. antoni'' Tindale, 1947 (western Victoria to south-east Australia) * ''T. a. aurelia'' Waterhouse, 1915 (New South Wales, from Camden Haven to Port Stevens) * ''T. a. joanna'' (Butler, 1866) (New South Wales, Port Macquarie) * ''T. a. morrisi'' Waterhouse, 1914 (Queensland, from Southport to New South Wales) * ''T. a. rawnsleyi'' (Miskin, 1876) (Queensland, from Gympie to Caloundra) * ''T. a. regalis'' Waterhouse, 1928 (New South Wales, from the Dorrigo Plateau to the Barrington Tops)

External links

Australian Caterpillars

"''Tisiphone'' Hübner, [1819]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' Satyrini">819]"">"''Tisiphone'' Hübner, [1819]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' Satyrini Butterflies described in 1805 Taxa named by Edward Donovan Butterflies of Australia {{Satyrini-stub