Hypochrysops polycletus

Hypochrysops polycletus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Royal Jewel
(one synonym : Nacaduba obscura Grose-Smith, 1894)
LUCIINI, THECLINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA

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

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

These Caterpillars are pale greenish brown and hairy when small, but later become green with a white dorsal band.

(Photo: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

They feed on :

Timor Liana ( Rhyssopterys timorensis, MALPIGHIACEAE ).

Sometimes the Caterpillars are attended by ants, but not always.

pupa
(Photos: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The pupa is formed naked, and is held by the tail and the centre by a silk girdle onto the foodplant.

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

The female adults are black with a blue iridescence around the bases of the wings, and with a large white patch in the centre of each forewing.

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

The male adults are an iridescent blue on top, shading to black at the margins. Both sexes have the veins at the margins of the hindwings extended.

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

Underneath, they are brown with rows of rust-coloured spots outlined in black and iridescent green.

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

The females also have a large white patch under the centre of each forewing. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.

The eggs of this species are pale green and dome shaped with ridges. They are laid singly on leaves, stems and buds of the foodplant.

The species occurs as several subspecies in

India,

Indonesia,

New Guinea,

and in Australia as the subspecies rovena Druce, 1891,

Queensland along the tropical north-east coast.