drawing by Hamilton Herbert Druce, listed as Ialmenus clementi,
On some new and little-known butterflies of the family Lycaenidae
from the African, Australian and Oriental Regions,
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1902, Volume 2, Plate XI, fig. 9,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library,
digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.
The Caterpillar of this species is green or brown with a dark
dorsal line edged in cream, and diagonal white lines
on the side of each segment.
The head and tail are dark brown with black hairs.
It feeds on young
Wattles
(MIMOSACEAE),
including :
Alexanders Wattle ( Acacia alexandri ),
Fire Wattle ( Acacia inaequilatera ), and
Kurara ( Acacia tetragonophylla ).
It is always attended by small black ants :
Iridomyrmex species (
DOLICHODERINAE ).
The pupa is mottled brown with a length of about 1 cm.
It is usually attached to a leaf or stem of the foodplant.
The adult butterflies are pale brown on top with
an iridescent patch on each wing.
The patches are blue for the females,
and green for the males.
The hindwings have one or two black spots at the
tornus,
one edged in orange.
underside
drawing by Hamilton Herbert Druce, listed as Ialmenus clementi,
On some new and little-known butterflies of the family Lycaenidae
from the African, Australian and Oriental Regions,
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1902, Volume 2, Plate 11, fig 9,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library,
digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.
The undersides are fawn with rows of brown spots
edged in white.
The species occurs in Australia in
Western Australia.
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 727-728.
Hamilton Herbert Druce,
On some new and little-known butterflies of the family Lycaenidae
from the African, Australian and Oriental Regions,
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,
1902, Volume 2, p. 120, and also
Plate 11, fig 9.
(updated 27 March 2004, 23 May 2015, 21 July 2020)
