Two-spotted Line-blue (one synonym : Cupido adamapuncta Tepper, 1882) POLYOMMATINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: Don Herbson-Evans, Concord, New South Wales)
These Caterpillars can be nearly any colour: pink, orange, yellow, or green, and have varied markings. Their colour appears to depend on the nature of the shoots, flowers and buds on which they are feeding. They have a brown head, and are covered in fine hair.
The caterpillars feed on the flowers of various Wattles (MIMOSACEAE), for example:-
The caterpillars are usually attended by various species of ants from the subfamily DOLICHODERINAE, including :
The pupa is a uniform pale brown. It is formed in debris on the ground under the food plant.
The males are blue on top, with narrow black margins. The female adults are brown on top.
Underneath, they are both pale brown with light and dark wavy lines. Both sexes have two black spots both above and below on the tornus of each hindwing. The butterflies have a wing span of about 2 cms.
The eggs are white and mandarin shaped. They are laid singly, usually on flower buds of a food plant.
The species occurs from south-east Asia to the south Pacific, including:
and over the whole of mainland Australia:
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 787-788.
Baron Cajetan Felder & Rudolf Felder,
Lepidoptera. Rhopalocera,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2, Part 2 (1865), p. 280, No. 352, and also
Plate 35, fig. 14.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 16 September 2010, 22 December 2022)