They are always found in association with the ants

The Caterpillars shelter by day in old borer tunnels, and emerge at night to feed on the leaves of the tree.

male
(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The adult is an iridescent bluish-purple in colour with broad black wing margins. The undersurfaces of the wings are creamy fawn, with various black spots and arcs of orange dashes edged in black and metallic green. The wingspan is about 2.5 cms.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The species occurs only in

The removal of the trees from this area in order to promote human agriculture and settlement has made this species very rare. The species is listed as endangered.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 674-675.

Peter Hendry,
Insect Gall formation on Bulloak (Allocasuarina luehmannii),
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 61 (June 2011), pp. 17-18,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club.

J.F.R. Kerr, Jack Macqueen & Donald Peter Andrew Sands,
A new species of Hypochrysops (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from south Queensland,
Journal of the Australian Entomological Society,
Volume 8 (1969), p. 117, and also Plate 1, fig. 1.

John Moss,
New Site for Rare Bulloak Jewel, Hypochrysops piceata,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 75 (December 2014), pp. 37-38.
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club.

Warwick Daily News (Queensland),
Tuesday 11 September 2001.

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(updated 4 June 2008, 23 February 2014, 20 July 2020)