Cupido lacturnus (Godart, 1784)
Orange-tipped Pea-blue
(also known as Everes lacturnus)
POLYOMMATINI,   POLYOMMATINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Cupido lacturnus
(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

  • Mangkit-parang ( Desmodium heterocarpon ),
  • Bird's-foot Trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus ),
  • Clover ( Trifolium species ),

    and in GESNERIACEAE :

  • Lady Flowers ( Lysionotus species ).

    Cupido lacturnus
    (Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

    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.

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

    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.

    Cupido lacturnus
    female
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    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.

    Cupido lacturnus
    underside
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The species occurs as various subspecies over much of south-east Asia, including:

  • Hong Kong,
  • India,
  • Philippies,
  • Sumatra,
  • Thailand,

    and the subspecies australis (Couchman, 1962) occurs in

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales, and
  • Lord Howe Island.

    Cupido lacturnus
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Tony Bailey, Canungra, Queensland)


    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.


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    (updated 2 May 2009, 23 December 2023)