Illidge's ant blue
species of insect
Illidge's ant-blue butterfly (Acrodipsas illidgei), is an endangered species of butterfly endemic to Australia. This species can be found at six confirmed sites: Mary River Heads, Beaver Rock and Maaroom in the Fraser Coast Region (Queensland); Redland Bay and Point Halloran in the City of Redland (Queensland), and Brunswick Heads (New South Wales).
Characteristics
The eggs of the Illidge's ant-blue butterfly are white and have an average diameter of 0.7 mm. In its caterpillar stage it is white. The pupa of the butterfly is approximately 1 cm lengthwise and is brown. As adults they are brown and the females of the species contain blue coloured regions on the surface of their wings that change shades depending on the angle from which the surface is being viewed. The ventral side of both genders of the butterfly are fawn in colour and contain small dark spots. The wingspan of the butterfly is approximately 2 cm.
Ecology
The life cycle of the Illidge's ant-blue butterfly, from when the eggs are laid to when the butterfly finally emerges, is highly complex. It is also one of the best illustrations of the symbiotic relationship between organisms within mangrove systems.
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This entry incorporates text from “Illidge's ant blue” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.