Common Brown

Heteronympha merope · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Nymphalidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Common Brown
Photo: Donald Hobern, CC BY

Male Common Browns have a wingspan of about 60 mm and females about 70 mm. They live in the southern half of Australia and are native to that region. Their caterpillars eat various grasses such as Brachypodium, Cynodon, and Themeda species.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Males have a wingspan of about 60 mm; females about 70 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

They are found in the southern half of Australia.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Adults are now emerging about ten days earlier than 65 years ago, likely due to climate change.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

They are endemic to the southern half of Australia.

Source: Wikipedia

More photos

Common Brown photo 3
Photo: Tim, CC BY

Same family (Nymphalidae)

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heteronympha_merope

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.