The young Caterpillars feed openly in the daytime, skeletonising the leaves. Later instars hide in a hollow twig or curled leaf by day, and feed nocturnally, eating large pieces of the leaves. The foodplants include :

     
(Photos: courtesy of Bob Miller and Ian Hill)

The pupa is speckled brown and formed in a hollow twig or curled leaf.

female
(Picture: courtesy of CSIRO Entomology)

The adult male butterflies on top are purple with the upper wings edged in black. Underneath they are pale brown with orange markings outlined in metallic green. The females are brown with an orange patch on top and underneath each forewing, and are brown with grey spots outlined in metallic green under the hindwings. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 4 cms.

This species is found in Papua/New Guinea, and in Australia it is found as two subspecies :

on Cape York, and adjacent islands.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 653-654.

P.R. Samson,
The early history of Hypochrysops elgneri barnardi Waterhouse and H. hippuris nebulosis Sands (LEPIDOPTERA: LYCAENIDAE), The Australian Entomologist, Vol. 29, Pt. 3 (September 2002), pp. 103-106.

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