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A Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia

Third edition – October 2024
$60 plus $10 postage

• All copies signed by the author.

    Butterflies are probably the best-known group of insects because of their bright colours and the fact that most of them fly during the day. While the majority are tropical there are still reasonable numbers in the cooler climates of southern Australia.

Australia does not have many species compared to other countries that fall within the tropical region – only about 400 species. As a comparison, New Guinea has 1,600 and South America about 7,500.

This book should be read in conjunction with All About Butterflies of Australia (Reed New Holland, 2016) to get an overall view of just what butterflies are about. To save space most of the information in that book has not been repeated here. This publication has concentrated on illustrating as far as possible the adult butterflies, their early stages and the related host plants that the larvae feed on.

What makes this book different from other field guides is that all the illustrations of the butterflies are actual photos of live specimens. In most cases, this is how you will see them in the wild. It is just not possible to have every species as it would take a lifetime to gather live images of all the butterfly species as quite a few are very rare and extremely difficult to find.

This comprehensive ID guide to Australia’s 400 species of butterflies covers everything from the eye-catching Common Jezabel and Ulysses Butterfly, to the gigantic Cairns Birdwing, to the more cryptic Blues and Skippers.

The key features that separate this book from all other butterfly field guides are:

֍            All images show love butterflies rather than pinned specimens. Large number of images documenting different life stages - egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult.

֍            Where possible shows upper-wing and underwing of adult for each species, plus images of male and female butterflies where they differ significantly in appearance.

֍            Includes pictures of host plants, which are often an important factor in locating the butterflies.

֍            Each butterfly species has its own account, including concise description, images and  distribution map. The sturdy cover and compact layout make the book ideal for use in the field.

֍            Garry Sankowsky has been studying and photographing Australian wildlife for many decades. He is particularly passionate about butterflies and together with his wife started the first butterfly farm in Australia at Mt Tamborine, Queensland, in the early 1970s. Today he lives in Tolga, Queensland.

֍            Geoff Walker has travelled the length and breadth of Australia in search of its butterflies, finding and photographing hundreds of species in their native habitat. As part of the process he has built up an impressive and comprehensive website. Web site has now been closed.

Some comments received so far:-

“Congratulations on a fantastic book. I have only had a quick look through so far but I really like the emphasis on host plants, something not available in other butterfly books and it's what butterflies are all about really. I also noticed important snippets of original information on behaviour and plant interactions and the like. I think you have the balance just right with how much you say about the butterflies themselves - all one needs to know about each species really. I'm pretty impressed with some of the photos of rare species too. True dedication needed there to get all those. It should be a great seller.”

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“The book arrived yesterday! Great production. I love the foodplant images.”

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“Your new book arrived on Friday and I have hardly put it down since.

It's a bloody tremendous effort ... my congratulations on a superbly detailed and informative book. 

It'll establish itself surely as the "bible" on Australian butterflies.

The photography throughout is excellent and I can appreciate the time spent chasing all those plants, butterflies and larva by both of you to photograph. 

Even though most of the butterflies don't occur here I'm reading up on them and enjoying the photography.”

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“I think your new book is brilliant. VAAAAAST amount of knowledge, totally useful pix, heaps for an ignoramus like me to browse through.”

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