The pupa is pale brown with dark markings. It is held by anal hooks and girdle.

Male upper surface
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The wings of the males are blue on top with narrow black margins and fade to white toward the bases.

Female upper surface
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The females are black with some blue areas, and have a large white patch on each wing.

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

Underneath, the males are black with subterminal arcs of white dashes on all four wings. Each wing also had a large white patch underneath. Both sexes have a small tail on each hind wing, and have a wingspan of about 3 cms.

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

The females are similar, but have a row of white chevrons around the edge of each forewing, and a double row around the edge of each hindwing.

Various subspecies occur on

The race coelestis (Miskin, 1891) occurs in

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 826-827.

Baron Cajetan Felder & Rudolf Felder,
Zoologischer Theil: Lepidoptera,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2, Part 2 (1865), p. 268, No. 325, and also Plate 33, figs. 15, 16.

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(written 16 November 2001, updated 29 May 2012, 15 November 2013, 24 July 2020)