''Theclinesthes miskini'', the wattle blue, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...

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 butterf ...

. It is found in Australia and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

Description

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 o ...

is about 20 mm. Adults have a pale blue upperside with chequered margins, but females also have a broad black band around the margins. They also have an arc of white scalloped markings on the hindwings. The underside of the wings is fawn with several white markings. The larvae are dark green or brown with a dark dorsal band and pale diagonal streaks.

Ecology

The larvae generally feed on plants in the family Fabaceae including ''

Paraserianthes lophantha ''Paraserianthes lophantha'' (syn. ''Albizia lophantha''), the Cape Leeuwin wattle, Bicol wattle, Cape wattle, crested wattle or plume albizia, is a fast-growing tree with creamy-yellow, bottlebrush like flowers. It is a small tree (uppermost hei ...

'', '' Sesbania cannabina'', '' Acacia anceps'', '' A. auriculiformis'', '' A. flavescens'', '' A. pycnantha'', '' A. salicina'', '' A. saligna'', '' A. tetragonophylla'', '' A. harpophylla'', '' A. holosericea'', '' A. neriifolia'' and '' A. victoriae'', but also on '' Alectryon diversifolius'', '' Atalaya variifolia'', ''

Hakea vittata ''Hakea vittata'', commonly known as the striped hakea, hooked needlewood, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae. Restricted to an area on the Eyre Peninsula and the Gawler Range in South Australia and small areas in eastern Victoria. Descriptio ...

'' and '' Eucalyptus polycarpa''. Young seedlings are preferred to older foliage. Larvae are occasionally attended by various black or green ants in the genera ''

Iridomyrmex ''Iridomyrmex'' is a genus of ants called rainbow ants (referring to their blue-green iridescent sheen) first described by Austrian entomologist Gustav Mayr in 1862. He placed the genus in the subfamily Dolichoderinae of the family Formici ...

'', ''

Ochetellus ''Ochetellus'' is a genus of ants first described by Steve Shattuck in 1992. He placed it in the subfamily Dolichoderinae of the family Formicidae. The ants in this genus are small and black in colour; workers measure in length, the males a ...

'', ''

Calomyrmex ''Calomyrmex'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus is known from Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Aust ...

'', '' Camponotus'', ''

Notoncus ''Notoncus'' is an Australian genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus is known from Australia (one species is also known from Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gi ...

'', ''

Paratrechina ''Paratrechina'' is one of seven ant genera (alongside ''Euprenolepis, Nylanderia, Paraparatrechina, Prenolepis, Pseudolasius,'' and ''Zatania'') in the ''Prenolepis'' genus-group from the subfamily Formicinae (tribe Lasiini). Six species are ...

'' or ''

Polyrhachis ''Polyrhachis'' is a genus of formicine ants found in the Old World with over 600 species. The genus is yet to be comprehensively resolved and contains many varied species including nest-weavers (e.g. ''Polyrhachis dives''), swimming workers ( ...

''.

Subspecies

*''Theclinesthes miskini miskini'' (Australia: Cairns to Moruya, Northern Territory) *''Theclinesthes miskini arnoldi'' (Fruhstorfer, 1916) (Cape York, Bismarck Archipelago) *''Theclinesthes miskini eucalypti'' Sibatani & Grund, 1978 (Queensland)

References

Polyommatini {{Polyommatini-stub