Hypochrysops apelles

Hypochrysops apelles (Fabricius, 1775)
Copper Jewel
LUCIINI , THECLINAE , LYCAENIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

Hypochrysops apelles
(Photo: courtesy of Wes Jenkinson)

This Caterpillar is flattened and has fleshy lumps on most segmemts. It is coloured green with a black head, tail and thorax, and a pair of brown lines along the back. The head and tail are covered in bristles. It hides by day in a shelter of joined leaves, feeding nocturnally. It feeds on part of each leaf, leaving the leaves with a skeletonised burnt appearance Near the coast, the Caterpillar has been found feeding on various Mangroves:

Grey Mangrove ( Avicennia marina, ACANTHACEAE ),

Stilted Mangrove ( Rhizophora stylosa, RHIZOPHORACEAE ),

Large Orange Leaf Mangrove ( Bruguiera gymnorhiza, RHIZOPHORACEAE ),

Yellow Mangrove ( Ceriops tagal , RHIZOPHORACEAE ),

and away from the coast on a variety of plants, including:

Sandy Mangrove ( Lumnitzera racemosa, COMBRETACEAE ),

Quinine Bush ( Petalostigma pubescens, EUPHORBIACEAE ),

Vandasina retusa ( FABACEAE ),

Billy Goat Plum ( Planchonia careya, LECYTHIDACEAE ),

Yellow Wattle, ( Acacia flavescens, MIMOSACEAE ),

Rough Barked Apple ( Angophora floribunda, MYRTACEAE ), and

Red Ash ( Alphitonia excelsa, RHAMNACEAE ).

The Caterpillar is always attended by the small black ants :

Acrobat Ants ( Crematogaster, MYRMICINAE ).

(Photo: courtesy Brett Howton, Narangba, Queensland)

It pupates in sparse cocoon in a leafy shelter. The pupa is pale grey with dark brown spots, and has a length of about 1 cm.

(Photo: courtesy of Todd Burrows, South Stradbroke Island)

The adults are orange in colour with broad black bands along the costa and margin of each forewing. The females have broader black areas than the males.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Todd Burrows, South Stradbroke Island)

The undersurfaces of the wings are fawn, with iridescent green and black markings along the costa and margin under the forewings, and rusty brown lines of various lengths edged in iridescent green under the hindwings. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

(Picture: courtesy of The Insect Company)

The eggs of this species are white, and ridged and pitted with a height of about 1 mm. They are laid singly under leaves of a foodplant.

(Picture: courtesy of The Insect Company)

The species occurs in Indonesia, New Guinea, and in the north-eastern coastal area of Australia, in Darwin in the Northern Teritory, and from Cape York Peninsula in Queensland to Port Macquarie in New South Wales.

male
Illustrations from:
"An Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of New Holland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite, and Other Islands in the Indian, Southern, and Pacific Oceans",
1805, Edward Donovan.