''Ogyris genoveva'', the genoveva azure or southern purple azure, is a
butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
of the family
Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...
. It is found in
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 ...
.
The
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
is about 50 mm. Adult males are metallic purple, while females are black with metallic azure and a cream patch near the tip of each forewing.
The larvae feed on the foliage of various
Loranthaceae
Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are ''Nuytsia floribunda'' (the W ...
species, including ''
Amyema'', ''
Dendrophthoe'' and ''
Muellerina'' species. They are flattened and brown with darker brown dots. The larvae live in the nest of ''
Camponotus'' species. Pupation takes place inside this nest in a dark brown pupa of about 25 mm.
Australian Insects
/ref>
Subspecies
* ''Ogyris genoveva genoveva''
* ''Ogyris genoveva duaringa'' Bethune-Baker, 1905 (Duaringa to Milmerran)
* ''Ogyris genoveva gela'' Waterhouse, 1941 (New South Wales)
* ''Ogyris genoveva araxes'' Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914 (north-western Victoria)
* ''Ogyris genoveva genua'' Waterhouse, 1941 (South Australia (Mount Lofty))
* ''Ogyris genoveva splendida'' Tindale, 1923 (South Australia (Flinders Ranges))
Gallery
File:Ogyris_genoveva_egg_dorsal.jpg, Egg, dorsal view
File:Ogyris_genoveva_egg_lateral.jpg, Egg, lateral view
File:Ogyris_genoveva_larva.jpg, Larva with attendant sugar ant (''Camponotus nigriceps
The black-headed sugar ant (''Camponotus nigriceps''), also known as the brown sugar ant, is a species of Formicinae ant endemic to Australia. Found throughout most states, the species is a member of the genus '' Camponotus'', a cosmopolitan ge ...
'')
File:Ogyris_genoveva_pupae.jpg, Pupae with attending ants
File:Ogyris_genoveva_female.jpg, Male - females have a cream patch on the forewing underside
References
Arhopalini
Butterflies of Australia
Butterflies described in 1853
{{Theclinae-stub