Hypolycaena phorbas

The Caterpillars pupate on the stems of the food plant, often in groups, head down. The pupae are green or brown with dark flecks and mottling. They have a length of about 1.5 cms.

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

The adults are brown on top. The males have fore wings with a blue sheen and a large dark patch in the middle. The females have fore wings with a white patch having a blue edge. The hind wings of both sexes each have two little tails from the trailing edge each beside a large black and white eye spot.

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

Underneath, the butterflies are fawn, each wing having two rows of darker spots parallel to the wing margins. The hind wings each have two small orange and black eye spots on the trailing edge. The butterflies fly fast and are inclined to settle on the tips of twigs. They have a wing span of about 3 cms.

The species also occurs over New Guinea, and two subspecies have been recognised in Australia :

ingura in the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and

phorbas along the tropical north coast of Queensland.