Ogyris aenone

Ogyris aenone (Waterhouse, 1902)
Sapphire Azure
ARHOPALINI, THECLINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Ogyris aenone
(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

These Caterpillars are lumpy, and reddish grey, with a pair of dark diagonal stripes on the back of every segment. The caterpillars have a pair of tubercles on the last segment which can project a white organ. The caterpillars hide by day in bark crevices. At night they emerge to feed on various Mistletoe (LORANTHACEAE), including :

Buloke Mistletoe ( Amyema linophyllum ),

Box Mistletoe ( Amyema miquelii ),

Long Flowered Mistletoe ( Dendrophthoe vitellina ),

Forked Mistletoe ( Diplatia furcata ),

Woolly Mistletoe ( Diplatia tomentosa ), and

Harlequin Mistletoe ( Lysiana exocarpi ).

(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The caterpillars are always attended by ants from the subfamily DOLICHODERINAE : either

Wandering Ants- ( Anonychomyrma itinerans ), or

Australian Golden Ant ( Philidris cordatus ).

(Photos: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

Pupation occurs in a bark crevice. The pupa is brown with dak markings, and has a length of 1.6 cms.

Male
(Photos: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The butterflies are pale metallic blue on the upper surfaces with a narrow black edge to the costa and margin of each forewing.

Female
(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The females are very similar to the males.

Male, underside
(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

Underneath, they are grey with black markings edged in metallic green.

Male
(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The species is found in Australia in

Queensland, on the north coast and inland near Leyburn, and near Millmerran.

Male
(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 704-706.

Gustavus Athol Waterhouse,
Notes on Australian Rhopalocera: Lycaenidae, Part 1,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 27, Part 3 (1902), pp. 339-340, and also Plate 14, fig 9.

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(updated 17 June 2008, 28 December 2023)