Liphyra brassolis Westwood, 1864
Moth Butterfly
 (also known as Sterosis brassolis)
MILETINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


caterpillar
(Photo: courtesy of Penny Taylor, Whitsunday, Queensland)

This Caterpillar is elliptical, flat, and leathery, usually brown or yellow with brown markings. The head is kept underneath the upper mantle. The caterpillar is carnivorous, feeding on green ants such as:

  • Citrus Ants ( Oecophylla smaragdina, FORMICINAE ),

    often living within the ant nest feeding on ant larvae. The tough skin of the caterpillar apparently protects it from attack by the ants.


    caterpillar surrounded by ants and the skins of eaten ant larvae
    (Photo: courtesy of Penny Taylor, Whitsunday, Queensland)

    The caterpillar pupates in the ant nest. The pupa is formed within the last larval skin, which apparently protects it from attack by the ants. Its length is about 3 cms.


    male and female upper surfaces
    (Photo: courtesy of Yusuke Takanami & Yasuo Seki)

    The adult butterfly, when it first emerges from its pupa, is covered in a grey powder, which seems to clog the ants jaws, and apparently makes it difficult for the ants to attack the butterfly. The butterflies are somewhat variable in coloration, being either brown with orange patches, or orange with brown patches. The underside is similar to the top only more washed out. The wingspan is about 7 cms.


    male and female undersides
    (Photo: courtesy of Yusuke Takanami & Yasuo Seki)

    The eggs are laid singly or in small groups up to to six, on the underside of branches of a tree that has an appropriate ants nest. The eggs are tiny pale green flat cylinders, with a height of about 1 mm.

    The species has been found as various races across south-east Asia, including

  • Borneo,
  • India,
  • Solomons, and
  • Thailand.

    The subspecies major Rothschild, 1898, has been found around the tropical coast of Australia, including:

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory, and
  • Queensland.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 622-623.

    Densey Cline,
    Secrets of a Predatory Butterfly Liphyra brassolis exposed!,
    Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 62 (September 2011), pp. 14-19.

    Peter Samson,
    Some of Australia’s myrmecophagous Lycaenid butterflies,
    Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 101 (June 2021), pp. 27-29.

    John O. Westwood,
    A butterfly from east India,
    Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,
    Volume 3, Part 2 (1864), p. 31.

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    (updated 23 March 2010, updated 5 January 2026)