Zizina labradus

Common Grass Blue
This specimen, perched on a rose, is approximately 10 mm in size.
Specimen at Cape Hillsborough national park, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Zizina
Species:	Z. labradus
Binomial name
Zizina labradus (Godart, [1824])[1][2]
Subspecies
Z. l. labdalon Z. l. labradus

Zizina labradus, commonly known as the Common Grass Blue, Grass Blue,^[3] or Clover Blue,^[4] is a small Australian butterfly of the Lycaenidae family.

Description

An adult feeding from flowering shrub

Adults are purplish blue on the upper wing surface with a black body and black or brown wing margins. These margins are larger on the female than the male.^[5] The lower wing surface is brown to pale brownish-grey with a pattern of fawn bands and spots,^[4][6] with the body covered in white or grey hairs. The wingspans of females are slightly larger than males, females having a wingspan of 23mm and males 20mm.^[5] Common Grass Blues have a weak, fluttering flight and so usually fly close to ground level close to a food source.^[5]

Eggs are white or pale blue and have a mandarin shape with a pitted surface.^[5] Caterpillars reach about 7mm in length, and their appearance is primarily green with a yellow stripe at the sides and a darker green stripe on the back, and brown or black head usually obscured under the thorax.^[6] In captivity, fed on an artificial diet, larvae come in highly variable colours, ranging from white through red to dark purple.^[5] Pupa are 10mm long with erect hairs. Colouration varies, ranging from pink, greyish or greenish cream and contains mottled dark spots.^[5]

Distribution

The subspecies Zizina labradus labradus is found over most of continental Australia, as well as on Lord Howe Island,^[6] Norfolk Island, and Christmas Island,^[7] while the subspecies Zizina labradus labdalon is restricted mainly to Cape York Peninsula.^[6] The Common Grass Blue is often misidentified as the Lesser Grass Blue, Zizina otis.^[6]

Zizina labradus labradus, as its name suggests, is very common and can be found in suburban gardens, particularly perching in grass; lawns and fields.^[5]

Growth

Single eggs are laid which can hatch in a matter of days.^[6] The eggs are laid on leaves, stems, flower buds and young pods of food plants, chiefly legumes of the Fabaceae family such as beans, clover and various native species.^[5][6] Newly hatched larvae eat small holes from young leaves or flower buds, and later feed mainly inside flowers.^[5] The larvae are considered a minor pest and will feed on leguminous plants such as garden beans by eating a small hole into the pods and then devouring the soft seeds within.^[5] In captivity when food is scarce the larger larvae will cannibalize smaller ones.^[5]

The larvae are typically attended by ants of the genera Paratrechina, Rhytidoponera and Tapinoma.^[4]

The pupa attaches to the lower leaf surface of the food plants with anal hooks and a central girdle.^[5][6]

References

1. ^ dos Passos, Cyril F., 1958, The dates and authorships of the names proposed in Volume 9 of Encyclopédie Méthodique by Godart and Latreille, 1819-[1824], The Lepidopterists' News 12 (3-4): 119-120.
2. ^ "Butterflies and Moths of the World: Generic Names and their Type-species". Natural History Museum, London, Official Website. The Natural History Museum, London. 2007. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/butmoth/GenusDetails.dsml?NUMBER=31070.0. Retrieved 2008-07-31. 
3. ^ "Bioinformatics: Victorian Butterfly Images". Museum Victoria Official Website. Museum Victoria, Australia. no date. http://museumvictoria.com.au/bioinformatics/butter/images/labrlive4.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Zizina labradus". Discover nature. James Cook University. 2008-02-04. http://cms.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/butterfliescommon/JCUDEV_005824. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Michael F. Braby (2000). Butterflies of Australia, Their Identification, Biology and Distribution, Vol. 2. pp. 837–838. ISBN 0-643-06493-1. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Zizina labradus". UTS Official Website. University of Technology, Sydney. 2008-06-18. http://www-staff.mcs.uts.edu.au/~don/larvae/lyca/labradus.html. Retrieved 2008-07-30. 
7. ^ "Scientific Names: Zizina labradus ssp. labradus (Godart)". CSIRO Official Website (Entomology). CSIRO. 2004-09-19. http://www.ento.csiro.au/aicn/name_s/b_4309.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-31.