| Diana or Large Moonbeam LUCIINI, THECLINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of Bart Hacobian, Kuranda, Queensland)
|
| Diana or Large Moonbeam LUCIINI, THECLINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of Bart Hacobian, Kuranda, Queensland)
The Caterpillar of this species is green and hairy, with a rounded body outline tapering toward the tail. Initially it has a fragmented brown dorsal line, which in later instars becomes uniform and orange, with variable dark patches.
The caterpillar feeds on
The caterpillar usually rests on the underside of a leaf, and grows to a length of about 1.5 cms.
The pupa is green and tapered to toward the tail, with a pale edged dark dorsal line, and with a humped area along the abdomen. The pupa is attached to the underside of a leaf, and has a length of about 1.2 cms.
The female adult butterfly has forewings each with a black upper surface, but with a large blue and white area extending from the base. The hindwings are black each with a pale blue and white area around the wingtip, and along the hind margin.
The male butterfly has mauve forewings, each with a white patch in the middle. The hindwings are mauve, each with vague pale stripes along the costa and hind margin. Both sexes are white underneath.
The eggs are white flattened spheres, covered with a minute raised lattice of about 200 polygons, each with raised edges and small spikes at the corners. The eggs are laid singly on the undersides of foodplant leaves, and have a diameter of about 0.8 cms.
The species is found in:
Philiris diana has two subspecies, both occurring in Queensland:
Philiris papuana was at one time thought to be a subspecies of Philiris diana until it was proved to be a separate species.
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 679-680.
Edward A. Petrie & Bart S. Hacobian,
Review of Australian Philiris Waterhouse & Lyell 1914 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae),
including confirmation of its native larval foodplant,
Australian Entomologist,
Volume 49, Part 3 (2022), pp. 137-143.
Donald Peter Andrew Sands,
Review of Australian Philiris Röber (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae), with notes on variation and descriptions of two new subspecies from Cape York peninsula,
Australian Entomologist,
Volume 42, Part 4 (2015), pp. 219-252.
Gustavus Athol Waterhouse & George Lyell,
The Butterflies of Australia,
Angus & Robertson, 1914, Sydney, p. 76, No. 87,
and also
Fig. 183, as well as
Figs. 270, 271.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 22 June 2008, 7 May 2023)