Other Common Names

Common Silver Xenica, Dark Silver Xenica, Tasmanian Silver Xenica

Notes

The only place within easy reach of Sydney I’ve found this butterfly is alongside the Jamison Creek at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains. They weren’t there in great numbers, but I did see several in the area. They were all quite close to the town of Wentworth Falls – I didn’t see any at all further along the track towards the waterfalls themselves. I first saw them there in March 2005, and then again in March 2008, but since then I’ve looked for them several times around that same time of year without seeing them, so perhaps it was only a temporary colony.

I found this to be quite a hard species to photograph. They’re not too hard to approach, as long as care is taken, but as the camera gets close they often tend to fly off. I did find, however, that if I stalked enough of the butterflies I would find that eventually one would stay there long enough for me to get some pictures.

Sightings

Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains – March 2005, March 2008.
Barrington Tops – January 2010
Brindabella Ranges, ACT – January 2010
Kanangra Boyd National Park – March 2013
Mt Ginini, ACT – March 2018

Links

• The Complete Field Guide to Australian Butterflies (2nd edition) by Michael F. Braby
• Atlas of Living Australia
• South Australian Butterflies & Moths
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility
• Butterflies of Dorrigo
• Canberra Nature Map
• iNaturalist
• Museums Victoria
• Video by “The Green Eye”