| Black-spotted Grass-blue (one synonym : Zizeeria alsulus Herrich-Schaffer 1869) POLYOMMATINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Slauhk, Hong Kong)
|
| Black-spotted Grass-blue (one synonym : Zizeeria alsulus Herrich-Schaffer 1869) POLYOMMATINI, POLYOMMATINAE, LYCAENIDAE, PAPILIONOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Slauhk, Hong Kong)
This Caterpillar is green with a purple dorsal line bordered by wiggly yellow and purple lines. The last segment has a pair of white eversible tentacles. The caterpillar feeds on the buds and flowers of various FABACEAE, such as ;
The caterpillar is usually attended by small black ants.
The pupa is mottled brown, held by anal hooks and girdle to a leaf or flower.
The adult is mauve, shading to brownish-grey as it loses mauve scales, particularly at the margins.
The under-surfaces of the wings are creamy fawn, with a marginal arc of dark spots, including a black spot near the tornus of each hind wing. The wingspan is about 2 cms.
The species has been found across Asia and the west Pacific, including
and also in Australia, in
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 839-840.
Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer,
Neue Schmetterlinge aus dem "Museum Godeffroy" in Hamburg,
Stettin Entomologische Zeitung,
Volume 30 , Parts 1-3 (1869), p. 75, No. 36.
Y.-F. Hsu,
The identity of Alfred Wallace’s mysterious butterfly taxon Lycaena nisa solved:
Famegana nisa comb. nov., a senior synonym of F. alsulus (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae, Polyommatinae),
ZooKeys,
Issue 966 (2020), pp. 153–162.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 13 May 2008, 21 May 2026)