| Cobalt Pea-blue POLYOMMATINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
male
(Specimen : courtesy of
Oxford University Natural History Museum)
|
| Cobalt Pea-blue POLYOMMATINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
male
(Specimen : courtesy of
Oxford University Natural History Museum)
These Caterpillars feed on the flowers and buds of plants like :
The male butterflies of this species are lilac blue on top, with a narrow black line around the margin of each forewing, and a black spot and a thin tail at the tornus of each hindwing. Underneath, they are pale fawn in colour, with faint arcs of darker spots on both wings, and with a black spot edged in orange by the tail of each hindwing.
The females are similar but with fawn upper surfaces to each wing with only a patch of lilac toward the base.
The butterflies have a wingspan of about 2 cms. They are similar in colour to those of Catochrysops panormus, but have more rounded wings.
The species occurs around the south-west Pacific, including
and in Australia in
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 829-830.
Gustavus Athol Waterhouse & George Lyell,
The Butterflies of Australia,
Angus & Robertson, 1914, Sydney, pp. 103-104, No. 144.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 4 February 2010, 23 December 2023)