Species Eurema smilax (Donovan, 1805)
Small Grass-yellow
- Papilio smilax Donovan, E. 1805. An Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of New Holland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite, and other Islands in the Indian, Southern, and Pacific Oceans: including Figures and Descriptions of One Hundred and Fifty-three Species of the more Splendid, Beautiful, and Interesting Insects, hitherto Discovered in those Countries, and which for the most Part have not appeared in the Works of any Preceding Author. London : Rivington iv + [167] pp. + [41] pls. [Date published January] [pl. [20] fig. [3]] [originally illustrated but unnamed in Jones, W. 1783. Icones. [unpublished original watercolour paintings with added notes]. Located at Oxford University, Hope Department of Entomology 6 Vols. [approx. 1783–1818]; subsequently copied, named and described by Donovan, see Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9–17 [11]].
Type data:
Status unknown, whereabouts unknown sex unknown, Sydney, NSW (Australasia given in original description)
Comment: Donovan stated in the original description that an unstated number of specimens were from the Francillon collection); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9–17 [11] (stated his opinion that Donovan may have based his figures on Jones Icones).Type locality references:
Waterhouse, G.A. 1937. Presidential address: The biology and taxonomy of the Australasian butterflies. Report of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science 23: 101-133 [also issued as a repaginated separate in 1938] [122] (affirmed that the original specimens came from Sydney, NSW); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9-17 [11] (stated that the original specimens came from Sydney, NSW); Waterhouse, G.A. 1938. Notes on Jones' Icones (Lepidoptera). With footnotes and appendix by Sir Edward B. Poulton. Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London A 13(1–3): 9-17. - Terias ingana Wallace, A.R. 1867. On the Pieridae of the Indian and Australian regions. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 4(3): 301-406 pls 6-9 [322].
Type data:
Syntype(s) BMNH ♂, Sydney (as Sidney) (in original description); BMNH ♀
Comment: Wallace indicated in the original description that he had both sexes; Yata, O. 1991. A revision of the Old World species of the genus Eurema Hübner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part II. Description of the smilax, the hapale, the ada and the sari groups. Bull. Kitakyushu Mus. Nat. Hist. 10: 1–51 pls 1–21 [5] (mentioned syntypes in the BMNH). - Terias parvula Herrich-Schäffer, G.A.W. 1869. Neue Schmetterlinge aus dem Museum Godeffroy in Hamburg. Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung 30(1–3): 66-80 pls 1-4 [78].
Type data:
Status unknown, whereabouts unknown sex unknown, Rockhampton, QLD (designated in original description)
Comment: Herrich-Schäffer in the original description did not indicate the number of specimens described. - Terias varius Miskin, W.H. 1889. Revision of the Australian species of the lepidopterous genus Terias, with descriptions of some new species. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 6(5): 256-263 [publication date: Anon. 1889. Royal Society of Queensland. Annual Meeting, 12th July, 1889. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 6: i–xi [iv, vi, x]] [259].
Type data:
Syntype(s) QM T12349 1♂, Rockhampton, QLD (Rockhampton and Brisbane, QLD, given in original description); QM T12350 1♂, unknown (no locality given); QM T12351 1♀, Dawson River, QLD
Comment: Miskin in the original description did not indicate the number of specimens described; Hancock, D.L. 1995. The butterfly types of W. H. Miskin in the Queensland Museum (Lepidoptera). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 38(2): 519–528 [520] (gave details of the remaining syntypes in the QM).Type locality references:
Hancock, D.L. 1995. The butterfly types of W. H. Miskin in the Queensland Museum (Lepidoptera). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 38(2): 519-528 [3] (label data indicated male T12349 and female T1235 from Rockhampton area and male T12350 from Brisbane); Hancock, D.L. 1995. The butterfly types of W. H. Miskin in the Queensland Museum (Lepidoptera). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 38(2): 519-528. - Terias casta Lucas, T.P. 1892. On 34 new species of Australian Lepidoptera, with additional localities, &c. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 8(3): 68-94 [68].
Type data:
Syntype(s) SAMA ♂, Duaringa, Queensland (indicated in original description); SAMA ♀
Comment: Lucas in the original description mentioned both sexes.
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Waterhouse, G.A. 1903. Catalogue of the Rhopalocera of Australia. Memoirs of the NSW Naturalists' Club No. 1. iii 49 pp. [33]
- Yata, O. 1991. A revision of the Old World species of the genus Eurema Hübner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part II. Description of the smilax, the hapale, the ada and the sari groups. Bulletin of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History 10: 1-51 pls 1-21 [5]
Generic Combinations
- Eurema smilax (Donovan, 1805).
Distribution
States
Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Extralimital distribution—Oriental Region (Java)
IBRA
ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), 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), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), 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), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), 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 Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)
Other Regions
Lord Howe Island terrestrial & freshwater
Original AFD Distribution Data
Australian Region
- Australia
- Australian Capital Territory
- Lord Howe Island
- New South Wales: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, N Gulf, N coastal, W plateau
- Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal
- South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs, SE coastal, W plateau
- Tasmania
- Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Western Australia: N coastal, NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
Ecological Descriptors
Larva: herbivore (associated flora: Cassia fistula L. [FABACEAE]; Cassia nemophila A.Cunn. ex Vogel [FABACEAE]; Senna artemisioides petiolaris Randell [FABACEAE]; Senna gaudichaudii (Hook. & Arn.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby [FABACEAE]; Senna sp. [FABACEAE]; Neptunia monosperma F.Muell. ex Benth. [FABACEAE]; Neptunia gracilis Benth. [FABACEAE]; Senna acclinis (F.Muell.) Randell [FABACEAE]; Senna coriacea Bong. ex Benth. [FABACEAE]; Senna coronilloides (Benth.) Randell [FABACEAE]).
Extra Ecological Information
Cassia fistula is introduced
General References
Braby, M.F. 1988. A note on directional flights of Eurema smilax (Donovan) (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) and Danaus chrysippus petilia (Stoll) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in Victoria. Australian Entomological Magazine 15(2): 53-57 [53]
Common, I.F.B. & Waterhouse, D.F. 1981. Butterflies of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xiv 682 pp. 49 pls. [274] (biology)
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] (biology)
McCubbin, C. 1971. Australian Butterflies. Melbourne : Nelson xxxi 206 pp. [119] (biology)
Waterhouse, G.A. 1932. What Butterfly is That? A Guide to the Butterflies of Australia. Illustrated by Neville Cayley. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 291 pp. 34 pls. [Date published 15/Dec/1932] [64] (as Terias smilax Donovan, 1805, 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] [154] (as Terias smilax Donovan, 1805, 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. [255] (description, distribution)
Yata, O. 1991. A revision of the Old World species of the genus Eurema Hübner (Lepidoptera, Pieridae) Part II. Description of the smilax, the hapale, the ada and the sari groups. Bulletin of the Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History 10: 1-51 pls 1-21 [5] (description)
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) |