Yellow-spotted Blue (one synonym : Erina pulchella Swainson, [1833]) CANDALIDINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
male
(Photo: courtesy of
Martin Purvis, Glenbrook, New South Wales)
This Caterpillar is green with white hairs, dark green diagonal stripes, and yellow lateral lines. It has a pale brown head. It hides by day, and feeds by night, on plants in THYMELAEACEAE, including :
The pupa is brown with side flanges at both ends. Its length is about 1 cm. It is formed in the leaf debris at the base of the foodplant. It clicks if disturbed.
The adults are brown on top, with the males having a purple sheen. Both sexes have a large yellow patch in the centre of each fore wing.
Underneath, they are white with a row of black dots along the wing margins, and usually two dots under the centre of each fore wing, and three dots under each hind wing. The butterflies have a wing span of about 2.5 cms. This is a pretty little butterfly, and they appear to flash as they fly along just above the ground.
The eggs are pale geen, round, flattened, and rough. They are laid singly on flower buds or young shoots of a foodplant.
The species occurs over the eastern coastal areas of Australia, including:
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 771-772.
Jacob Hübner,
Papiliones gentiles,
Sammlung exotischer Schmetterlinge,
Volume 1 (1817), p. 2, and also
Plate 99.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 30 October 2010, 23 December 2023)