Australian Admiral

The Australian Admiral butterfly, or Yellow Admiral, or just Admiral, Vanessa itea, is generally one of the first butterflies to appear in this district as the weather warms up a bit.

Admirals are a mostly fast-moving handsome species and are easy to identify among the range of ‘brown’ butterflies we have in southern Victoria. They tend to inhabit more open ground on the edges of woodlands, home gardens, parklands, etc.

Vanessa itea is endemic to Australia and New Zealand and there is a close relative, the Red Admiral, that is found in Europe, Africa and America.

Australian Admirals often feed facing down and can be found sometimes on the trunks of trees lapping on oozing sap. Adults are good pollinators of course as they visit a wide range of flowering shrubs seeking their dose of nectar.

The favoured host plant for the larvae is the Native Pellitory or Shade Nettle, Parietaria sp.