Gaudy Commodore

Precis octavia male or Gaudy Commodore in my garden. The wingspan of the Gaudy Commodore is 50-63 mm, and the colours of the males and females are the same. The females lay eggs on shoots of specific host plants, mostly grassland plants in the mint family, including Plectranthus, which is obviously why it chose to visit me. 

The Gaudy Commodore breeds twice a year and the subspecies Precis octavia sesamus has a wet season form and a dry season form. In this photo, taken now in late winter in August, the dry season form colouration can be seen. In the wet season form the colouration is predominantly red-orange. The two forms are so different that it is hard to believe that they are forms of the same species of butterfly. 

The caterpillars of the Gaudy Commodore are about 45 mm in length and they are tawny brown in colour, banded with black. They carry branched spines along the length of their body and a pair of spines on the head. 

Even those who don’t like caterpillars tend to like butterflies, perhaps forgetting that caterpillars are the larvae of butterflies? 

Info from “Letting Nature Back In”

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