Paralucia aurifera

Paralucia aurifera (Blanchard, [1848])
Bright Copper
(previously known as Thecla aurifer)
LUCIINI, THECLINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA

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

Paralucia aurifera
(Photo: courtesy of P. and M. Coupar, Museum Victoria)

This Caterpillar is green, brown or grey, with a dark dorsal stripe and diagonal markings. It has a black head, prothorax and tail. The caterpillar can evert a pair of tentacles from the tail. The caterpillar is always attended by :

Black Ants ( Anonychomyrma nitidiceps, DOLICHODERINAE ).

The caterpillar has been found feeding nocturnally on plants in PITTOSPORACEAE including :

Sweet Bursaria ( Bursaria spinosa ), and

Orange Thorn ( Pittosporum multiflorum ).

By day, the caterpillar typically hides in an ants nest at the foot of the food tree.

The caterpillar also pupates in the ants nest.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Ingleburn, New South Wales)

The adults are dark brown on top with a purple sheen, and have a yellow patch on each wing, and an arc of blue dashes along the rear wing margins. Underneath, they are pale brown, with a number of outlined fawn patches.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Ingleburn, New South Wales)

The wings of the males are rather pointed and the wings of the females rounded; at the apex and tornus. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Ingleburn, New South Wales)

Restricted to bushland where its spiny foodplant is not cleared, this shy little copper is usually only seen within the vicinity one its host ant colonies.

egg, magnified
(Photo: courtesy of Ken Walker, Kosciuszko National Park, Victoria)

The eggs are dome-shaped, with a polygonal network of minute ribs, and are white, with a diameter of about 1 mm. They are laid singly on a leaf or stem of a foodplant.

The species occurs in

New South Wales,

Victoria,

Tasmania, and

South Australia.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Ingleburn, New South Wales)