Acrodipsas aurata Sands, 1997 Golden Ant-blue LUCIINI,   THECLINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

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

The male adult butterflies of this species are dark brown on top with a metallic coppery colour toward the bases of the wings. The females have blue areas around the bases. Underneath, they are fawn with arcs of brown spots, and there are two black spots on both surfaces at the tornus of each hind wing. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 2.5 cms.

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

The species has only been found in the mountains of

northern Victoria.

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

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Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 633-634.

Donald Peter Andrew Sands,
A New Species of Acrodipsas Sands (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory,
Australian Journal of Entomology,
Volume 36, Issue 4 (December 1997), pp. 339–344.

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(updated 23 September 2007, 23 December 2023)