apparently feeding on immature ants. It grows to a length of about 2 cms.

The pupa is cream with a length of about 1.5 cms. It is formed within the host ant nest.

The male and female adults have different upper surfaces. The male is plain dark purple with pale bronze margins.

The female is similar but with a black and white bar on the costa of each forewing. Underneath, they are both pale brown, with dark brown splotches, and with a set of black and white bars on each forewing. Both sexes have black and white chequered margins to the wings. The butterflies have a wing span of about 4 cms.

The eggs can be white, grey or brown. They are round with a diameter of about 1 mm. They are laid in groups about 40 on the base of a mallee gum tree that has a suitable ants nest in the roots.

The species is found inland in mallee scrub in Victoria, in South Australia, and the south of Western Australia, and two races have been proposed :

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby, Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 714-715.

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(updated 11 July 2004)