Nesolycaena albosericea (Miskin, 1891)
Satin Opal
(previously known as Holochila albosericea)
CANDALIDINI,   POLYOMMATINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

This Caterpillar is yellowish-green with a dark dorsal line, and red and white lateral lines. Early instars feed on the flowers of various Boronias, (RUTACEAE)including:

  • Glabrous Boronia ( Boronia glabra ),
  • Capital Boronia ( Boronia obovata ), and
  • Scented Boronia ( Boronia odorata ).

    Later instars eat the foliage. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 1.5 cms.

    The pupa is cream with brown and black markings. It is about 1 cm. long.


    male
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The male butterflies on top are pale silvery blue with brown on the tip of each forewing. The females are also a pale silvery blue, but have a broad dark mark on each forewing tip, extending around the margins of the wings.


    female
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    Underneath, they are plain brown. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.


    male, underside
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The eggs are round, flattened, rough, and pale green. Their diameter is about 0.6 mm. They are laid singly on flowers of a foodpalnt.

    The species occurs in

  • southern Queensland.


    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 775-776.

    William Henry Miskin,
    Synonymical catalogue of the Lepidoptera Rhopalocera (Butterflies) of Australia,
    Annals of the Queensland Museum,
    Volume 1 (1891), p. 65, No. 12.


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    (updated 8 May 2002, 28 December 2023)