Gaika Blue
Zizula hylax
10.001, 76.7416
Field Notes
Description:
The Gaika Blue or Tiny Grass Blue (Zizula hylax) is a species of blue butterfly.
Male Upperside: dull violet-blue, which changes to a brighter tint of violet in certain lights.
Underside: grey. Fore wing: a dusky brown lunular line on the discocellulars; two subcostal spots above the cell, one on either side of the discocellular lunule; a very strongly curved discal series of five spots, of which the posterior three are somewhat lunular in shape and placed obliquely en echelon, the next above these hook-shaped, the anterior spot round; both the subcostal spots and the spots of the discal series are black, each narrowly encircled with white; beyond these are inner and outer subterminal dusky lines, which anteriorly are continuous, posteriorly somewhat broken and macular, followed by a very conspicuous jet-black anticiliary slender line.
Habitat:
The Tiny Grass Blue is found in several races throughout tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, and Oceania, including India, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Swaziland, north and east coasts of Australia and also in southern Australia.
Notes:
The wing span of the adults is about 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in). The eggs are pale green, round, and flattened, with a diameter of about 0.5 millimetres (0.020 in). They are laid singly on buds and flowers of a foodplant. The caterpillars are 0.7 centimetres (0.28 in) long, green with a dark red line along the back, and light and dark lines partway along the sides. The sides are hairy, and the head is pale brown. The pupa is 0.7 cm long, hairy and green, and is attached to a stem or the underside of a leaf of a foodplant.
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