''Heteronympha merope'', the common brown, is a species of butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, endemic to the southern half of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The wingspan is about for males and for females. The larvae feed on

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

species, including ''

Brachypodium distachyon ''Brachypodium distachyon'', commonly called purple false brome or stiff brome, is a grass species native to southern Europe, northern Africa and southwestern Asia east to India. It is related to the major cereal grain species wheat, barley, oats ...

'', '' Cynodon dactylon'', ''

Ehrharta erecta ''Ehrharta erecta'' is a species of grass commonly known as panic veldtgrass. The species is native to Southern Africa and Yemen. It is a documented invasive species in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, southern Europe, and China. The ...

'', ''

Poa poiformis ''Poa poiformis'', commonly known as coast tussock-grass or blue tussock-grass, is a densely tufted, erect, perennial tussock grass, with distinctive blue-green leaves, that grows to about 1 m in height. Its inflorescences are arranged in a ...

'', ''

Microlaena stipoides ''Microlaena stipoides'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Ehrharta stipoides'', is a species of Poaceae, grass. It occurs naturally in all states of Australia as well as in New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines.

'', ''

Poa tenera ''Poa'' is a genus of about 570 species of grasses, native to the temperate regions of both hemispheres. Common names include meadow-grass (mainly in Europe and Asia), bluegrass (mainly in North America), tussock (some New Zealand species), a ...

'' and '' Themeda triandra''. The common brown butterfly is emerging ten days earlier than it did 65 years ago due to the effects of climate change.

References

# Schlossmann, Jessie. "Climate Change Causing Butterflies to Emerge Ten days Early". ''Australian Geographic'' 3-23-1

# South Australian Butterflies Data Shee

External links

* * Satyrini Butterflies of Australia Butterflies described in 1775 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius {{Satyrini-stub