| Spotted Dusky-blue (formerly known as Candalides delospila) CANDALIDINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group,
Centre for Biodiversity Genomics,
University of Guelph, listed as Zetona delospila)
This Caterpillar is green with brown hairs, and has a narrow red dorsal line edged in white and further edged in purple. The caterpillar feeds nocturnally on plants in LAURACEAE including:
By day the caterpillar hides in adjacent vegetation. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 1 cm.
The pupa is pale yellow with black spots, and has a length of about 1 cm. It is formed attached to a nearby plant or in a curled leaf on the ground.
The adult butterflies are brown on top, with the males having a purple tinge. Underneath, both sexes are white with black spots and a darker shading toward the margin. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 2 cms.
The eggs are pale grey, round, flattened, and pitted, with a diameter of about 0.5 mm. They are laid singly on buds and young shoots of a foodplant.
The species occurs in
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 770-771.
Gustavus Athol Waterhouse,
Australian Rhopalocera: Lycaenidae 3,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 28, Part 1 (1903), pp. 211-212, and also
Plate 2, fig. 5.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 6 May 2002, 3 November 2018, 6 July 2020, 6 March 2021)