1. Lebendfotos

1.1. Falter

2. Biologie

2.1. Nahrung der Raupe

• [Poaceae:] Austrostipa platychaeta
• [Poaceae:] Austrostipa acrociliata
• [Poaceae:] Austrostipa elegantissima

Braby (2026: 2) erklärte: "It occurs in a variety of habitats where its larval food plants Austrostipa platychaeta (Hughes) S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett, Austrostipa elegantissima (Labill.) S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett and Austrostipa acrociliata (Reader) S.W.L. Jacobs & J. Everett grow (Grund 1999a, 2007, 2009, 2010)." Damit teilt C. pilepudla die Nahrungspflanzen mit C. croites und nicht mit C. arenaria. S. 11 wird konkretisiert: "The larvae are associated only with various species of Austrostipa, unlike those of C. arenaria which specialise on Enteropogon (Atkins & Miller, 1987; Grund & Hunt, 2001). In north-eastern Eyre Peninsula, the main larval food plant of C. pilepudla is A. platychaeta (Grund, 1999a, 1999b, 2007) (voucher: M.F. Braby 246 ANH), although very occasionally they use A. elegantissima (Grund, 1999a). However, in the eastern Nullarbor, the species breeds mainly on A. acrociliata (Grund, 2007, 2009, 2010) and rarely on A. elegantissima (Grund, 2007, 2009). The breeding habitat varies between these locations. At Pilepudla Reserve, the immature stages are typically found on grasses growing in mixed woodland along the edges of seasonal sandy gullies (Figure 6b) or in mixed open-woodland with a shrubby understorey on sandy-loam on gentle sloping terrain (Figure 6a) along valleys dominated by Black Mallee-box Eucalyptus porosa F. Muell. ex Miq. with Callitris preisii Miq. and Allocasuarina luehmannii (R.T. Baker) L.A.S. Johnson within a steep, rocky and hilly landscape."

(Autor: Erwin Rennwald)

3. Weitere Informationen

3.1. Etymologie (Namenserklärung)

Grund (2003: 8) erläuterte seine Namenswahl: "‘Pilepudla’ is the local aboriginal name for a water hole in the Botenella Hills area of the Eyre Peninsula, South Australia."

3.2. Taxonomie und Faunistik

Grund (2003) beschrieb eine neue Unterart: Croitana arenaria pilepudla mit "Botenella Hills, northern Eyre Peninsula" im Süden Australiens als Typenfundort. Zur Verbreitung teilte er mit: "Presently known from only two small areas on northern Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. Adults and early stages are known from the Botenella Hills and adjacent areas, while only early stages are known from the south end of the Middleback Ranges." Er meldete Genitalunterschiede zur npminotypischen Unterart und merkte weiter an: "C. a. pilepudla differs from C. aestiva and C. croites in that the postmedian band on the hindwing underside is not strongly displaced basad in space Sc+R1. C. a. pilepudla represents an isolated subspecies of C. arenaria. The nominotypical subspecies is probably confined to central Australia, including the far northwest region of SA (Grund and Hunt 2001) and the Macdonnell Ranges region (Braby 2000). These two subspecies are separated by hot, dry, low rainfall areas where the foodplant appears to be unable to survive or maintain green growth for any extended period of time (Grund and Hunt 2001)." Und er endet mit dem Satz: "There have been suggestions by other scientists that C. a. pilepudla may represent a distinct species, but to resolve this question would require allozyme or DNA analysis, which is beyond the scope of this study."

Braby (2026) erhebt das Taxon - ein Jahr nach R. Grunds Tod - in den Artstatus: Croitana pilepudla. Seine Begründung sind die schon bekannten Zeichnungs- und Genitalunterschiede, die geographische Trennung, Färbungs-Unterschiede in den Präimaginalstadien und die etwas unterschiedliche Larvalbiologie. COI-Barcoding oder gar umfassendere DNA-Analyse ? Leider völlige Fehlanzeige ! Die Begründung für die Abtrennung der Art ist durchaus überzeugend, aber warum man über eine Absicherung auf Barcode-Ebene verzichtete, ist heute nur noch schwer zu verstehen.

3.3. Typenmaterial

Edwards (1979: 31): “Holotype ♂ labelled “23.36S 133.35E 32 km WNW of Alice Springs, NT 8 Oct 1978 E. D. Edwards,” Reg. No. 3295, in Australian national Insect Collection.” — Paratypen: 28 ♂♂ und 5 ♀♀, alle aus Australien. Braby (2026: 7) teilt dazu mit: "Holotype ♂ ‘23.36S 133.35E, 32 km WNW of Alice Springs, NT, 8 Oct 1978, E. D. Edwards’, ‘ANIC Database No, 31 090000’, ‘HOLOTYPE, Croitana arenaria Edwards 1979, Reg No. 3295’, ‘Figured in Butterflies of Australia (1999) [sic], CSIRO Publishing, M.F. Braby’ (ANIC) (Figure 1a–c). Paratypes Australia, Northern Territory: 28♂, 5♀. Edwards (1979) listed 33 paratypes, of which 28 (23♂, 5♀) are in the ANIC that have been examined. A paratype male is illustrated in Figure 3a,b."

(Autoren: Erwin Rennwald & Jürgen Rodeland)

3.4. Literatur

• Braby, M.F. (2026): Taxonomic revision and conservation concerns of the trapezitine genus Croitana Waterhouse, 1932 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from Australia. — Austral Entomology, 65 (2): 1–23. DOI: 10.1111/aen.70055. [zum PDF-Download auf researchgate.net]
• Erstbeschreibung: Grund, R. (2003): A new subspecies of Croitana arenaria E.D. Edwards (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) from Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. — Australian Entomologist, 30 (1), 5–10. [Digitalisat auf biodiversitylibrary.org]