Nesolycaena albosericea (Miskin, 1891)
Satin Opal
(previously known as Holochila albosericea)
CANDALIDINI,   POLYOMMATINAE,   LYCAENIDAE,   PAPILIONOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

This Caterpillar is yellowish-green with a dark dorsal line, and red and white lateral lines. Early instars feed on the flowers of various Boronias, (RUTACEAE)including:

  • Glabrous Boronia ( Boronia glabra ),
  • Capital Boronia ( Boronia obovata ), and
  • Scented Boronia ( Boronia odorata ).

    Later instars eat the foliage. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 1.5 cms.

    The pupa is cream with brown and black markings. It is about 1 cm. long.


    male
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney)

    The male butterflies on top are pale silvery blue with brown on the tip of each forewing. The females are also a pale silvery blue, but have a broad dark mark on each forewing tip, extending around the margins of the wings.


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

    Underneath, they are plain brown. The butterflies have a wing span of about 3 cms.


    male, underside
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney)

    The eggs are round, flattened, rough, and pale green. Their diameter is about 0.6 mm. They are laid singly on flowers of a foodpalnt.

    The species has been found in

  • southern Queensland.


    Further reading :

    Michael F. Braby,
    Butterflies of Australia,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 775-776.

    William Henry Miskin,
    Synonymical catalogue of the Lepidoptera Rhopalocera (Butterflies) of Australia,
    Annals of the Queensland Museum,
    Volume 1 (1891), p. 65, No. 12.


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    (updated 8 May 2002, 28 December 2023)