Theclinesthes hesperia Sibatani & Grund, 1978
Western Bitter-bush Blue
 POLYOMMATINI,   POLYOMMATINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans,
( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

This Caterpillar feeds on the young shoots and flowers of:

  • Rare Bitterbush ( Adriana quadripartita, EUPHORBIACEAE ).

    It is often attended by ants of the species :

  • Iridomymex conifer ( DOLICHODERINAE ).

    It pupates near the ground or in ground litter at the base of the foodplant.

    Theclinesthes hesperia
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The adult butterflies are pale blue with a scalloped dark margin to the hindwings. At the tornus of each hindwing is a tail. The undersides of the wings are fawn with arcs of white markings. The undersides of the hindwings are darker than those of the forewings. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

    Theclinesthes hesperia
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The species occurs in

  • Queensland,
    and two small areas of coastal sand-dunes in the south of
  • Western Australia as two subspecies :

  • hesperia Sibatani & Grund, 1978, on the west coast, and
  • littoralis Sibatani & Grund, 1978, on the south coast.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 812-813.

    Atuhiro Sibatani & Roger B. Grund,
    A revision of the Theclinesthes onycha complex (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae),
    Tyō to Ga (Trans.Lep. Soc. Jap.),
    Volume 29, Part 1 (1978), p. 30.

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    (updated 17 March 2004, 16 March 2025)