They attended by the small black ants :

The pupa is smooth and brown with a dorsal line, and has curled flanges on the abdomen. It is attached to a foodplant leaf by anal hooks and a girdle.

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

The female butterflies of this species are black with a large white patch on each wing, and a faint metallic blue suffusion toward the base. The males are plain dull blue.

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

Underneath, both sexes are white with arcs of brown dashes and black dots. The butterflies have a wingspan of about 3 cms.

In Australia, the species is found along the east coast of Queensland and New South Wales. Other subspecies are found in New Guinea.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby, Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 756-757.

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