Timoconia tymbophora (Dark Shield-skipper)
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
31/01/2016
Stanwell Park
12/02/2017
Narara
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
19/02/2023
Mount Keira
25/02/2024
Mount Keira
Other Common Names
Dingy Shield-skipper
Synonyms
This butterfly was formerly classified as Signeta tymbophora; in 2022 Signeta was moved into the genus Timoconia.
Notes
Stanwell Park is quite well-known as a site for this species, but it took 5 visits before I was able to get one photo. In all those attempts I only saw two specimens, both females that settled by the side of a path through the forest. The first time was shortly after I’d had a bad fall, in which I shattered my macro lens. I couldn’t have found the butterfly BEFORE breaking my lens, could I? And of course it was a few years before I found the second specimen.
I finally got some decent photo opportunities with this species at Mount Keira, near Wollongong, in February 2023. There were one or two not far from the main Lookout, but they never settled. The photos I took that day were all from the roadside around the junction of Queen Elizabeth Drive and Mount Keira Road. There were a few males around, ranging from the pristine to the very tatty, and one female who just spent about an hour sitting on a low shrub right next to the road.
Sightings
Stanwell Park – Feb 2012, Jan 2016
Narara – Feb 2017
Mount Keira – Feb 2023, Feb 2024