Lampides boeticus

Long-tailed pea-blue
Lampides boeticus. Underside
Lampides boeticus. Male. Upperside
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Lampides
Species: L. boeticus
Binomial name
Lampides boeticus
(Linnaeus, 1767)
Synonyms[1]

Lampides boeticus, the peablue, pea blue, or long-tailed blue, is a small butterfly that belongs to the lycaenids or gossamer-winged family.

Etymology

The Latin species name boeticus refers to Baetica, a province of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula .

Distribution

This species can be found in Europe, Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia [2]

Habitat

This species inhabits the edge of forests, mountain meadows and hot flowery places at an elevation up to 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) above sea level. [3][4][5]

Description

Female of Lampides boeticus

The wingspan is 24–32 mm for males and 24–34 mm for females. [4] In these small butterflies the males have a mainly blue violet upperface of the wings with the brown edges, while the females have only a small amount of blue colour in the centre of the wings (sexual dimorphism). [6][7] Both sexes have a thin, long tail in the hindwings and two black spots in the anal angle.The underface of the wings is ocher and adorned with white markings and with a larger white submarginal streak. [5] The underface of each hindwing shows a pair of small black eye-spots beside each tail, with an orange marginal spots at the anal angle. [6]

This species is rather similar and it can be confused with Leptotes pirithous and Cacyreus marshalli.

Ecology

This species may have three generations a year. Adults fly from February to early November and are strong migrants. [4][5] Eggs are white with a greenish tinge and have a disc-shaped form. They can reach a diameter of 0.5 mm. They are laid singly on the flower buds of the host plants. [6]

Old caterpillars are green or reddish-brown, with dark dorsal stripe. They reach a length of 14-15 mm. Pupae reach a length of 9-10 mm. They are light grayish-brown with medium-sized dark spots and dark dorsal stripe. [3]

The larvae feed on flowers, seeds and pods of many Fabaceae species, including Medicago, Crotalaria, Polygala, Sutherlandia, Dolichos, Cytisus, Spartium and Lathyrus species. [2][8] It has also been recorded on Crotolaria pallida.[9]

In Australia, the larvae are occasionally attended by ants in the genera Froggattella, Iridomyrmex or Camponotus.[10]


Life cycle of Lampides boeticus
Mating pair
Egg
Caterpillar
Pupa
Imago

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Yutaka Inayoshi Butterflies in Indo-China
  2. 1 2 Funet
  3. 1 2 Lepidoptera Caucasi
  4. 1 2 3 Simon Coombes Captain's European Butterfly Guide
  5. 1 2 3 Euro Butterflies by Matt Rowlings
  6. 1 2 3 Lepidoptera Butterfly House
  7. ↑ New Zealand Butterflies
  8. ↑ Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
  9. ↑ Kunte, K. 2006. Additions to the known larval host plants of Indian butterflies. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 103(1):119-121
  10. ↑ Braby, Michael F. (2004). The Complete Field Guide to Butterflies of Australia. CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 0643090274.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.