Satin Opal (previously known as Holochila albosericea) CANDALIDINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
This Caterpillar is yellowish-green with a dark dorsal line, and red and white lateral lines. Early instars feed on the flowers of various Boronias, (RUTACEAE)including:
Later instars eat the foliage. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 1.5 cms.
The pupa is cream with brown and black markings. It is about 1 cm. long.
The male butterflies on top are pale silvery blue with brown on the tip of each forewing. The females are also a pale silvery blue, but have a broad dark mark on each forewing tip, extending around the margins of the wings.
Underneath, they are plain brown. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.
The eggs are round, flattened, rough, and pale green. Their diameter is about 0.6 mm. They are laid singly on flowers of a foodpalnt.
The species occurs in
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 775-776.
William Henry Miskin,
Synonymical catalogue of the Lepidoptera Rhopalocera (Butterflies) of Australia,
Annals of the Queensland Museum,
Volume 1 (1891), p. 65, No. 12.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 8 May 2002, 28 December 2023)