![]() | Bright Purple Azure ARHOPALINI, THECLINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Martin Lagerwey,
Ungarie, New South Wales)
The Caterpillar of this species is pinkish-brown and somewhat corrugated with black dots, a brown head, and two ridges on the tail. It feeds on various species of Mistletoe (LORANTHACEAE) such as :
which are parasites on:
The caterpillars typically feed nocturnally, and hide in crevices by day. The caterpillars are usually attended by the small black ants :
The pupa is mottled dark brown with a length of about 1.5 cms. Pupation usually occurs in a crevice or under bark on the foodplant host.
The adults are metallic purple on top, the females having a broader black margin to the wings.
Both sexes are blotchy fawn underneath. The forewings each have a series of black and white stripes under the leading edge. The butterflies have a wingspan of 3 to 4 cms. They are rather sluggish flyers.
The eggs are brown, round, and flattened, with a network of pale raised ribs. The eggs have a diameter of about 0.8 mm. They are laid singly on leaves or flowerbuds of a foodplant.
The species occurs over the inland of south-eastern Australia as two races :
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2.
Kelvyn L. Dunn,
Field Notes: Major extensions to the known distribution of
the Bright Purple Azure, Ogyris barnardi
(Miskin 1890) in Queensland (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae),
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 68 (March 2013), pp. 26-32.
William Henry Miskin,
A Revision of the Australian Genus Ogyris, with Description of a new Species,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume 5, Part 1 (1890), pp. 27-28.
![]() caterpillar | ![]() butterflies | ![]() Lepidoptera | ![]() moths | ![]() caterpillar |
(updated 11 July 2004, 13 August 2024)