Prosotas felderi (Murray, 1874)
Felder's or Short-tailed Line-blue
 (previously known as Lycaena felderi)
POLYOMMATINI,   POLYOMMATINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Prosotas felderi
(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney, New South Wales)

This Caterpillar is hump-backed and coloured in various pastel shades: pink or green or yellow. It has a brown head. It feeds on the buds and flowers of various plants, including the Australian natives :

  • Sally ( Acacia falcata, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Gossamer Wattle ( Acacia floribunda, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Black Wattle ( Acacia leiocalyx, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Queensland Silver Wattle ( Acacia podalyriifolia, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Coastal Wattle ( Acacia sophorae, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Beach Bird's Eye ( Alectryon coriaceus, SAPINDACEAE ), and
  • Carrotwood ( Cupaniopsis anacardioides, SAPINDACEAE ),
  • Tulipwood ( Harpullia pendula, SAPINDACEAE ),

    and the introduced :

  • Siris ( Albizia lebbeck, MIMOSACEAE ), and
  • Lychee ( Litchi chinensis, SAPINDACEAE ).

    The pupa is brown with dark markings. Pupation occurs in a shelter formed of leaves joined with silk.

    Prosotas felderi
    male
    (Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney, New South Wales)

    The male adults are brown on top with a blue sheen.

    Prosotas felderi
    female
    (Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney, New South Wales)

    The females have a patch of blue on each wing, and a series of faint pale chevron markings along the margin of each hindwing. The blue patch can be much reduced in summer specimens.

    Prosotas felderi
    (Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney, New South Wales)

    Underneath, they are fawn with rows of darker spots edged in white. Near the tornus of each hindwing. both sexes have short tail, and a dark spot on both the upper and lower surfaces. The butterflies have a wing span of about 2 cms.

    The eggs are laid on flower buds of a foodplant.

    The species occurs on the east coast of Australia from Bunaberg to Wollongong in

  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 797-798.

    Wesley Jenkinson,
    Life history notes on the Short-tailed Line-Blue, Prosotas felderi (Murray, 1874) Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae,
    Butterfly and Other Invertebrates Club Inc.,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 73 (June 2014), pp. 14-17.

    Rev. Richard Paget Murray,
    Descriptions of some new species belonging to the genus Lycaena,
    Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
    Volume 22, Part 4 (1874), pp. 527-529, and Plate 10, figs. 4-6.

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    (updated 25 December 2009, 28 December 2023)