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Photo by ShannaB
Published on Project Noah
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-26.5068, 153.087

Field Notes

Notes:

Seen on Emu Mountain. I believe this is a blue from the Lycaenidae family but a lot of the species look really similar and I can't find one that I'm happy to name as a match. Can anyone help? There seems to be one tail on each wing, and one eyespot (but it's hard to tell since, unfortunately, part of the underside of the wing is obscured). Whatever it is, it's very pretty! : )

Species ID Suggestions

Wattle Blue

Theclinesthes miskini

Reference Link
ShannaB
2

Cycad Blue

Theclinesthes onycha

Reference Link
DanielePralong
2

Comments (16)
ShannaB
Thanks Martin. I have no idea which way to go!
MartinL
Hey Shanna you have a tricky one here. I'm reading from Common and Waterhouse for T. onycha; 'hindwing with obscure brown black terminal spots between veins fused with back terminal line...' In short, the hindwing of T. onycha has a grey line along the outer edge joining the grey patches (terminal spots). T. miskini has really only one black spot while T onycha has several grey ones also. I think your sharp camera angle of photo #1 and #2 may partially miss this feature. I vote for the cycad blue but I'm far from certain.
ShannaB
Thanks for your help Jeff. I don't think there are many cycads there (although I am not great with plants) - I seem to recall a lot of eucalypts in this location and apparently there is an endangered casuarina that grows there. The Queensland Parks & Wildlife Management Plan for Noosa National Park describes this environment as: "Open heath (rocky hills). This community occurs on Cainozoic igneous rocks especially rhyolite at Emu Mountain and the rocky knoll on the West Weyba section. The community on Emu Mountain contains several plant species restricted to these rocky habitats (QDEH 1994)."
JeffCrocombe
Don't think its possible to tell from these shots. The Wattle Blue is on average 1mm smaller and is slightly grey than the Cycad Blue. Were there cycads present? The Wattle Blue is also said to prefer "drier, more open forests" according to The Butterflies of australia by Orr & Kitching. I can say it is a male, the female has a wide dark band on the upper forewing. I woud lean towards Wattle Blue myself.
ShannaB
Thanks so much for your help, Daniele! : )
DanielePralong
The voting helps indeed. In a case like this I hope that if an expert votes they'll also leave a comment with clear criteria to justify their vote. Let's see:-)
ShannaB
Oh, that's a good way to do it. I never thought of making a suggestion on my own spotting!
DanielePralong
You could put a suggestion for the Wattle blue and see how the voting goes. I also hope martinl will visit:-). At the end it may be impossible to say from these shots. At least you'll have Theclinesthes sp. :-)
ShannaB
I can't handle that sort of responsibility! ; )
DanielePralong
I agree! You'll have the last call as you;re the one who saw the specimen:-)
ShannaB
But the look at the Cycad Blue from the same site!!! http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/insects/JCUDEV_005783 I think you need to be an expert to tell... (I'm definitely NOT an expert)!!!
ShannaB
I'm leaning more and more towards the Wattle Blue... look at the specimen on the left at this site: http://www-public.jcu.edu.au/discovernature/insects/JCUDEV_013650
DanielePralong
You'd know best as you saw the butterfly:-) I guess you're referring to the eye spots? The amount of white there may vary slightly from one specimen to another... I have a butterfly guide for the Greater Brisbane area but there is no match there. Let's see whether we or others can find a better match:-)
ShannaB
I'm wondering about this one: Wattle Blue (Theclinesthes miskini) http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/lyca/miskin.html
ShannaB
Thanks Daniele! I had a good hard look at the Cycad Blue already, and I'm not 100% convinced. On the Cycad blue the brown spots on the top of the hindwings near the tail have a really well-defined white border, which isn't present on my specimen. I'm trawling through the Butterfly House website at the moment... there are SO MANY SPECIES that look really similar!!
DanielePralong
Hi Shanna! The underwing pattern is very similar to that of the Cycad blue. But I would also check the whole POLYOMMATINAE entry there: http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_blues/index.html

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Wilds of South-East Queensland
Photographed
PublishedSeptember 16, 2012

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