Hypochrysops epicurus

Hypochrysops epicurus Miskin, 1876
Mangrove Jewel
LUCIINI, THECLINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA

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

Hypochrysops epicurus
(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

This Caterpillar may be green, brown, pink or grey. It has pale sides, a broad dark dorsal line containing a narrow white line, and pale patches on the thorax and abdominal segments five and six. It hides by day in crevices or a rolled leaf, and by night feeds on leaves of :

White Mangrove ( Avicennia marina, ACANTHACEAE ).

(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The Caterpillar is always attended by ants from the genus

Anonychomyrma, DOLICHODERINAE.

(Photos: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The pupa is brown and formed in a sheltered crevice or similar spot on the foodplant.

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

The male and female adults are different. The male is metallic blue on top with a narrow black margin.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The female is brown on top, sometimes with an orange suffusion, and with mauve patches at the bases. and.

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

Underneath, they are fawn with rows of red dashes edged with pale metallic green. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.

female, underside
(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The eggs are laid in clusters on twigs and leaf stems of a food plant. They are pale turquoise.

female, underside
(Photo: courtesy of Todd Burrows, South Stradbroke Island)

The species occurs in

southern Queensland, and

northern New South Wales.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 676-677.

William Henry Miskin,
Descriptions of new species of Australian diurnal Lepidoptera,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
1876, pp. 455-456.

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(updated 16 September 2010, 9 November 2013, 20 July 2020)