At Moa Flat we also saw an occasional butterfly. Nigel managed to get a photo of a butterfly with its wings open and I got a smaller photo of the underside of a butterfly’s wing. After looking online it seems our butterfly is probably a Common Tussock aka Tussock Ringlet. Scientific name is Argyrophenga antipodum. Argyrophenga is a genus of butterflies that are endemic to New Zealand.
Moa Flat, Central Otago, New Zealand. Photos taken 12 Jan 2019
The first two photos are both cropped from a photo that Nigel took.
This butterfly was small in my photo – I enlarged it to see the underside of the wings.
I’ve read if they feel threatened they flash their wings and drop down into the grass. The underside of their wings makes it hard to see them.
Text by Liz, photos by Nigel and Liz; Exploring Colour (2019)
Exploring Colour 
Similar to our Buckeye. Thanks for sharing that. Now I know maybe 3 butterfly’s.
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You’re making progress! I don’t know many. In NZ we don’t have many butterflies but lots of different moths, most of which I’m not very interested in.
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Well-spotted! They really blend into their background.
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Thanks! We were pretty lucky to come away with some photos 🙂
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