The caterpillars normally rest on a stem of their forddplant, and grow to a length of about 1.6 cms.

(Photos: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

The pupa is pale grey or brown, with dark markings, and has flanges on the abdomen. Its length is about 1 cm. It is usually attached to a suitable twig by cremaster and girdle

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

The male and female adults are similar: dark brown on top with a purple sheen. Underneath, they are fawn with brown markings, including two large spots under the tornus of each forewing. The butterflies have a wing span of about 2 cms.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Rich Fuller, Brisbane, Queensland)

The eggs are white, rough, round, and flattened. They are laid singly on young shoots of a foodplant.

egg, highly magnified
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

The species occurs on

and the whole northern half of Australia including

The adults are often confused with those of Erina hyacinthina. One diagnostic difference is that on the underside of the hindwing of Erina erinus, the medial and postmedial arcs of dark markings diverge away from each other as they approach the hind margin.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 767-768.

Johan Christian Fabricius,
Historiae Natvralis Favtoribvs,
Systema Entomologiae,
Flensburgi et Lipsiae (1775), p. 525, No. 348.

Wesley Jenkinson,
Life history notes on the Small Dusky-blue, Candalides erinus (Fabricius, 1775) Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 91 (December 2018), pp. 11-14,

Harriet, Helena, and Alexander W. Scott,
Australian Lepidoptera and their Transformations,
Australian Lepidoptera,
Volume 2 (1869), p. 9, and also Plate 12.

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(updated 16 September 2010, 8 July 2020, 6 March 2021)