List of butterflies of Australia

Australia has more than 400 species of butterfly, the majority of which are continental species, and more than a dozen endemic species from remote islands administered by various Australian territorial governments. The largest butterflies in the world are endemic to the Australasian realm. They are the birdwings—Ornithoptera and other genera—of the tribe Troidini of the swallowtail butterfly family, Papilionidae.

Papilionidae: swallowtails

Family: Papilionidae – 18+2 species

Papilioninae

Pieridae: whites and yellows

family: Pieridae – 35+2+1 species

Coliadinae: yellows

Riodinidae: metalmarks

family: Riodinidae – '''1 species'''

Lycaenidae: gossamer-winged blues and coppers

family: Lycaenidae – '''142+7 species'''

Theclinae: hairstreaks

Nymphalidae: brush– or four-footed

family: Nymphalidae – '''81+6 species'''

Satyrinae

Heliconiinae: longwings

Nymphalinae

Danainae: milkweed butterflies

Hesperiidae: skippers

family: Hesperiidae – '''121+1 species'''

Remote islands species

Australia has 8,222 islands within her maritime borders. This is small in comparison with her northern neighbour Indonesia, with about 18,300 islands. The British Isles include more than 6,000 islands over a much smaller area. The Greek islands include about as many islands depending on the minimum size to take into account, but in an even smaller area.

[Christmas Island] (105°E)

Torres Strait islands">Torres Strait Islands">Torres Strait islands (142–144°E)

; Dauan Island

Violet line-blue, Nacaduba calauria
White-brand crow, Euploea netscheri
Gracile line-blue, Prosotas gracilis

; Saibai Island

Silky owl, Taenaris catops –

; Yorke Island

Spotted crow eggfly, Hypolimnas antilope

; Darnley Island

Papuan grass-yellow, Eurema blanda
Papuan snow flat, Tagiades nestus
Banded evening brown, Melanitis amabilis
Papuan cerulean, Jamides nemophila
Bold line-blue, Nacaduba pactolus
Silky owl, Taenaris catops

; Murray Island

Papuan evening brown, Melanitis constantia
Dark green-banded blue, Nothodanis schaeffera
Violet line-blue, Nacaduba calauria
Spotted crow eggfly, ''Hypolimnas antilope''

[Norfolk Island] (168°E)

Norfolk swallowtail, ''Papilio amynthor''

Glossary

aestivation – summer dormancyanal vein – sixth wing vein, parallel to dorsumandroconia —apical area —apical claw —apical spurs —apiculus —bifid – two-prongeddiscal cell —imago – adult insect; fully grown, sexually mature

Major collections

Museums outside of Australia with significant Australian butterfly collections

UK British Museum: 25,000 Australian butterflies; includes specimens collected by Joseph Banks, Walter Rothschild and Cajetan and Rudolf Felder.UK Hope Entomology Collections, Oxford University Museum of Natural History: 1,600 Australian butterflies.RF Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris: 10,000 Australian butterflies; includes specimens collected by Hans Fruhstorfer.BRD :de:Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe: 5,000–10,000 Australian butterflies.USA Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University: substantial Australian butterfly holdings, though numbers have not been estimated; includes specimens collected by RG Wind and Harry Kendon Clench.

Taxonomic authorities

Doubleday, Edward, John Obadiah Westwood and William Chapman Hewitson. The Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera: Comprising Their Generic Characters, A Notice of Their Habits and Transformations, and A Catalogue of the Species of Each Genus. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1846–52.
Felder, Cajetan Freiherr von. 1860.
Felder, Cajetan Freiherr von and Rudolf Felder. "Reise der Österreichischen Fregatte Novara in den Jahren 1857, 1858, 1859". Zoologischer Thiel 2 : xx–xx. Illustrations by :sk:Alois Friedrich Rogenhofer are here at Wikicommons
Fruhstorfer, Hans. "Die Indo-Australischen Tagfalter". . Pages 767–798 in Adalbert Seitz, Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde: eine systematische Bearbeitung der bis jetzt bekannten Gross-Schmetterlinge. Volume 9. Stuttgart: Alfred Kernen, 1914.
Guérin-Méneville, Félix Édouard. 1831.
Hewitson, William Chapman. Illustrations of New Species of Exotic Butterflies: Selected chiefly from the collections of W. Wilson Saunders and William C. Hewitson. 5 volumes. London: John Van Voorst, 1851, 1862–1871, 1878.
Hewitson, William Chapman. '. Part I. Lycænidae. London: John Van Voorst, 1867.
Latreille, Pierre André. 1809.
Linnaeus, Carl. Systema Naturae. 10th edition. 1758. Page 458ff.
Macleay, William John.
Macleay, William Sharp. "Annulosa, catalogue of insects, collected by Captain King, RN". Appendix B, pp. 438–469 in Phillip Parker King. '. London: John Murray, 1826.
Miskin, William Henry
Meyrick, Edward. 1888.
Meyrick, Edward and OB Lower. "Revision of the Australian Hesperiadae". Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Royal Society of South Australia 35 : 112–172. ISSN 1324-177X
Olliff, Arthur Sidney.
Tindale, Norman Barnett. "A new butterfly of the genus Papilio from Arnhem Land". Records of the South Australian Museum 3 : 103–134. ISSN 0376-2750
Tindale, Norman Barnett. "A new butterfly of the Ogyris." South Australian Naturalist. ISSN 0038-2965
Tindale, Norman Barnett. "New Rhopalocera and a list of species from the Grampian Mountains, Western Victoria." Records of the South Australian Museum.
Waterhouse, Gustavus Athol. What Butterfly is That? A Guide to the Butterflies of Australia. 8 volumes. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1932.
Westwood, John Obadiah.