Ogyris otanes

Ogyris otanes (C. & R. Felder, 1865)
Small Brown Azure
ARHOPALINI , THECLINAE , LYCAENIDAE

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

Ogyris otanes
(Photo: courtesy of Museum Victoria)

This Caterpillar is white, with black spiracles, and a brown head. It has two flaps, one each side of the tail, which are said to emit a chemical which pacifies the ants. It lives in a nest of any of several species of :

Sugar Ants ( Camponotus, FORMICINAE ).

It feeds on the shoots and bark of:

Sour Bush ( Choretrum glomeratum ),

Spiked Sour-bush ( Choretrum spicatum ), and

Currant Bush ( Leptomeria preissiana ),

all of SANTALACEAE.

The Caterpillar grows to a length of about 2.5 cms.

The pupa is pale brown with a length of about 1.5 cms. Pupation occurs within the host ants nest.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Museum Victoria)

The adults are a purple with a bronze sheen on top, with scalloped wing margins. However, the females also have a broad black band around the margins, and a white patch near the tip of each fore wing. Underneath, the wings are fawn, with an arc of black spots and a pair of black and white spots under each fore wing, looking like a pair of eyes with eyebrows. The butterflies have a wing span of about 4 cms.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Museum Victoria)

The eggs are white and dome shaped, with a diameter of about 1 mm. They are laid in groups of one to four on debris at the base of a foodplant.

The species has been found in various localities in the southern half of the Australian mainland including the Big Desert in north-western Victoria, but its habitat has been largely destroyed, and it is now most commonly found on Kangaroo Island and other undisturbed areas in South Australia.