Species Eurema hecabe (Linnaeus, 1758)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Papilio hecabe Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundem classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Holmiae : Laurentii Salvii Vol. 1 10, 824 pp. [470] [only synonyms described from Australia have been listed for this widely occurring species].

  Type data:

   Lectotype LS ♀, Guangzhou [Canton], South east China (as Asia in original description).
  Paralectotype(s) whereabouts unknown sex unknown, Luzon, Philippines
  Comment: Linnaeus in the original description did not indicate the number of specimens described, he referred to a figure published by Petiver but not to any specimens.

  Type locality references:

  Corbet, A.S. 1941. The Linnaean names of Indo-Australian Rhopalocera. Pts 1, 2. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London B 10: 8-27 [18, 27] (discussed Clerck's and Petiver's figures of the type specimen, and selection of South-east China as type locality); Corbet, A.S. 1942. The Linnaean names of Indo-Australian Rhopalocera. Pt 3. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London B 11: 91-94 [91, 94] (gave the location of the type); Corbet, A.S. 1949. The Linnaean names of Indo-Australian Rhopalocera. Pt 7. Summary of determinations. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London B 18: 191-199 [192, 195] (recorded Guangzhou [as Canton] as the type locality and gave the sex of the type material).
• Terias phoebus Butler, A.G. 1886. Notes on the genus Terias with descriptions of new species in the collection of the British Museum. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 5 17: 212-225 [221 pl. 5 fig. 4].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BMNH ♀, Queensland (in original description)
  Comment: Butler in the original description did not indicate the number of specimens described, but he indicated the sex described.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Yata, O. 1995. A revision of the Old World species of the genus Eurema Hübner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part V. Description of the hecabe group (part). Bulletin of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History 14: 1-54 pls 1-35 [34] (included extralimital synonyms)
• Edwards, E.D., Newland, J. & Regan, L. 2001. Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea, Papilionoidea. In Wells, A. & Houston, W.W.K. Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 31.6. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia. x 615 pp. (extralimital synonyms are so numerous that no attempt has been made to list them here, only those names based on Australian material are listed)

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Extralimital distribution—Indonesia (Irian Jaya, Maluku), Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Oriental Region, Japan to China (where it enters the S Palaearctic Region), Indo-China, India, Sundaland, Lesser Sundas.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Gascoyne (GAS), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
  • South Australia: Lake Eyre basin
  • Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, W plateau
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
  • Maluku
• Papua New Guinea
• Solomon Islands

Oriental Region

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

Larva: herbivore (associated flora: Breynia oblongifolia (Mull.Arg.) Mull.Arg. [EUPHORBIACEAE] Coffee Bush; Acacia baileyana F.Muell. [FABACEAE] Cootamundra Wattle; Acacia deanei (R.T.Baker) M.B.Welch, Coombs & McGlynn [FABACEAE] Deane's Wattle; Acacia spectabilis Benth. [FABACEAE] Glory Wattle, Pillaga Wattle, Mudgee Wattle; Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit [MIMOSACEAE] Lead Tree; Acacia maidenii F.Muell. [FABACEAE] Maiden's Wattle; Acacia rubida Cunn. [FABACEAE] Red-leaf Wattle; Sesbania cannabina (Retz.) Pers. [FABACEAE] Sesbania Pea; Breynia cernua (Poir.) Mull.Arg. [PHYLLANTHACEAE]; Cassia spp. [CAESALPINIACEAE]; Senna coronilloides (Benth.) Randell [FABACEAE]; Phyllanthus tenellus Roxb. [EUPHORBIACEAE]; Aeschynomene indica L. [FABACEAE]; Indigofera spp. [FABACEAE]; Sesbania javanica Miq. [FABACEAE]; Breynia nivosa Small [EUPHORBIACEAE]; Aeschynomene hirsuta DC. [FABACEAE]; Albizia julibrissin Durazz [MIMOSACEAE]; Albizia lebbeck (Willd.) Benth. [MIMOSACEAE]).

Extra Ecological Information

Ntroduced plants include Senna surattensis (Caesalpiniaceae), Breynia nivosa (Euphorbiaceae), Aeschynomene hirsuta (Fabaceae), Acacia nilotica, Albizia julibrissin, Albizia lebbeck, Leucaena leucocephala (Mimosaceae).

 

General References

Common, I.F.B. & Waterhouse, D.F. 1981. Butterflies of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xiv 682 pp. 49 pls. [273] (biology, noted that some authors referred to hecabe phoebus as sulphurata Butler, 1875)

Jones, R.E. 1999. The Grass Yellows, Eurema Species (Pieridae). pp. 143-151 in Kitching, R.L., Scheermeyer, E., Jones, R.L. & Pierce, N.E. (eds). Biology of Australian Butterflies. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing xvi 395 pp. [143]

McCubbin, C. 1971. Australian Butterflies. Melbourne : Nelson xxxi 206 pp. [119] (as Eurema hecabe phoebus (Butler, 1886), biology)

Waterhouse, G.A. & Lyell, G. 1914. The Butterflies of Australia: a monograph of the Australian Rhopalocera introducing a complete scheme of structural classification, and giving descriptions and illustrations of all the butterflies found in Australia, including a number now recorded for the first time. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 239 pp. 38 pls + 3 unnumbered colour pls. [Date published 25 July 1914] [153] (as Terias hecabe sulphurata Butler, 1875, description, distribution)

Yata, O. 1985. Part 1 : Pieridae. pp. 206-438 in Tsukada, E. (ed.). Butterflies of the South East Asian Islands. II. Japan : Plapac 1-623 pls 1-162. [225] (biology)

Yata, O. 1995. A revision of the Old World species of the genus Eurema Hübner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part V. Description of the hecabe group (part). Bulletin of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History 14: 1-54 pls 1-35 [34 pl. 18] (major revison of Eurema hecabe hecabe (Linnaeus, 1758), biology, illustrations, extralimital distribution)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
07-Mar-2024	PAPILIONOIDEA	07-Mar-2024	MODIFIED	Dr Michael Braby
04-Feb-2023	PAPILIONOIDEA	22-Dec-2023	MODIFIED	Dr Michael Braby (ANU)
13-May-2022	PAPILIONOIDEA	07-Mar-2024	MODIFIED	Dr Michael Braby
26-Feb-2021	PAPILIONOIDEA	07-Mar-2024	MODIFIED	Dr Michael Braby
04-Jun-2020	PAPILIONOIDEA	07-Mar-2024	MODIFIED	Dr Michael Braby
06-Sep-2017	PAPILIONOIDEA	07-Mar-2024	MODIFIED
05-Mar-2013		07-Mar-2024	MODIFIED
30-Mar-2012		07-Mar-2024	MODIFIED
27-Apr-2011		27-Apr-2011	MOVED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)