''Candalides hyacinthina'', the varied dusky-blue, is a species of
butterfly of the family
Lycaenidae. It is found along the east coast of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, including
South Australia,
New South Wales,
Western Australia and
Victoria.
''Candalides hyacinthina''
at Australian Caterpillars and their Butterflies and Moths
The wingspan is about 40 mm. Adults males have dark bronze wings. Females are also bronze, but have a substantial area with a blue sheen on each wing. The underside of both sexes is fawn with arcs of darker spots and two black spots under the tornus of each forewing.
The larvae have been recorded feeding on the young shoots of '' Cassytha melantha'', '' Cassytha racemosa'' and '' Cassytha peninsularis''. They are green with orange patches and are covered in sparse short white hairs. Pupation takes place in a mottled brown pupa with a length of about 13 mm.
Subspecies
*''C. h. hyacinthina'' - common dusky blue (southern Queensland to central Victoria, Grampians)
*''C. h. simplexa'' (Tepper, 1882) - western dusky blue (north-western Victoria, Southern Australia, Western Australia)
*''C. h. eugenia'' Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914 (Queensland (Port Stewart to Yeppoon))
*''C. h. josephina'' Harris, 1952 (Stawell)
References
Candalidini
Butterflies described in 1879
Butterflies of Australia
Taxa named by Georg Semper
{{Polyommatinae-stub