Sahulana scintillata (T.P. Lucas, 1889)
Glistening Line-blue
 (previously known as Theclinesthes scintillata)
POLYOMMATINI,   POLYOMMATINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
David Johnston & Stella Crossley

Sahulana scintillata

This Caterpillar is initially green, brown and cream. It is rather knobbly, rather like the developing ovaries of its foodplants. It feeds on the flowers of various plant species, including:

  • Maiden's Wattle ( Acacia maidenii, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Black Wattle ( Acacia leiocalyx, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Southern Salwood ( Acacia disparrima, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Siris ( Albizia lebbeck, MIMOSACEAE ),
  • Beach Bird's Eye ( Alectryon coriaceus, SAPINDACEAE ), and
  • Carrotwood ( Cupaniopsis anacardioides, SAPINDACEAE ).

    Sahulana scintillata
    male
    (Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis, Sydney, New South Wales)

    The adult males are purple on top, with two faint brownish bars on the margin of each forewing, and two dark spots at the tornus of each hindwing.

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

    The females are brown on top, suffusing to blue at the base of each wing. The forewings each have a white patch near the middle, and each hindwing has an arc of black spots along the margin. Both sexes have a prominent tail on each hindwing.

    Sahulana scintillata
    (Photo: courtesy of Trevor Jinks, Upper Burnett, Queensland)

    Underneath, the sexes are similar: fawn, with a long brown irregular streak under each wing. The adults have a wingspan of about 2 cms.

    The species occurs in

  • New Guinea,

    and the northern and eastern coastal areas of Australia, including:

  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 816-817.

    Thomas P. Lucas,
    On 34 new species of Australian Lepidoptera, with additional localities,
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland,
    Volume 6, Part 4 (1889), pp. 157-158, and also Plate 9, figs. 8-10.

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    (updated 15 July 2010, 28 December 2023)