Fringed Heath-blue (previously known as Lucia agricola) POLYOMMATINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of R.P. Field,
Museums Victoria)
This Caterpillar is green or brown with a thin dark dorsal stripe bordered by pink and white. It has a hairy tail and a hairy brown head. It is sometimes attended by the small black ants
It feeds inside the flower buds of various FABACEAE including
The pupa can be any colour from pink to dark brown, with darker spots and makings. Its length is about 0.7 cm. The pupa is sometimes formed attached to the foodplant, an sometimes in adjacent leaf litter on the ground.
The adults are brown on top with chequered margins. Underneath, they are pale brown. The underside of each forewing has a stripe and patches of darker brown outlined in black and white. The underside of each hindwing has a white flash and two black chevrons. The butterflies have a wing span of about 2 cms.
The eggs are white partly squashed spheres, covered in a complex array of dimples. The eggs have a diameter of about 0.5 mm. They are laid singly on a leaf or stem of a foodplant.
The species occurs as three recognised races:
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 818-820.
John O. Westwood,
Lycaenidae,
Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera,
Volume 2 (1851), p. 496, No. 199, and also
Plate 76, fig. 4.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 19 September 2011, 8 December 2023)