Orange-tipped Pea-blue (also known as Everes lacturnus) POLYOMMATINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)
This Caterpillar is corrugated, hairy, and green with patches of various other colours. It grows to a length of about 1 cm. It has been found feeding on the flowers and seedpods of plants in FABACEAE including
and in GESNERIACEAE :
The pupa is green with black markings, and has a length of about 0.7 cm. It is formed in amongst the fruit pods of the foodplant.
The adults are brown on top with several orange-edged black spots on the rear edge of each hind wing. The males have an iridescent blue sheen. The hindwings each have a thin tail. Underneath, the wings are white with a fawn subterminal arc, and two black spots near the front on each hind wing. Also, there is a row of black spots by the tail on each hind wing, two being surrounded with orange. The adult butterflies have a wingspan of about 2 cms.
The eggs are pale green, round, and flattened, with a diameter of about 0.5 mm. They are laid singly on flowers and pods of a foodplant.
The species occurs as various subspecies over much of south-east Asia, including:
and the subspecies australis (Couchman, 1962) occurs in
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 843-844.
Jean Baptiste Godart,
Encyclopédie Méthodique,
Volume 9, Part 2 (1874), p. 608, No. 148, and also
pp. 660-661, No. 148.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 2 May 2009, 23 December 2023)