''Nacaduba cyanea'', the tailed green-banded line-blue, is a species of butterfly in the family
Lycaenidae
Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of ...
, and formerly considered a member of the genus ''
Danis''. It is found in the
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
(Irian Jaya, Maluku),
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
, the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
(Queensland).
The
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...
is about 30 mm. Adult males are blue with a dark brown wing margin, with a pale blue to white patch on the hindwing. Females are white, with a black border around the wings and a row of blue-edged black spots.
The larvae feed on ''
Entada phaseoloides
''Entada phaseoloides'', commonly known in English as the matchbox bean or St. Thomas' bean, is a large twining vine or liana in the pea and bean family Fabaceae, native to a broad area of Asia-Pacific, from China to northern Australia and the so ...
'' and ''
Entada scandens''. They are bright green, with pale brown heads. The larvae are attended to by ants of the genus ''
Anonychomyrma
''Anonychomyrma'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Dolichoderinae.
Distribution and habitat
The genus is mainly distributed in New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Australia; a single species is known from Malaysia and Indonesia. They nest on the ...
''. Pupation takes place in a brown pupa with dark markings.
Subspecies
* ''N. c. arinia''
(Oberthür, 1878) (Torres Straits Islands, Cooktown to Ingham) - tailed green-banded blue
* ''N. c. carissima''
(Grose-Smith & Kirby, 1895) (Flores, Pura, Tanimbar, Timor)
* ''N. c. chromia''
(Druce, 1891) (northern Solomons)
* ''N. c. cyanea''
(Cramer, 1775) (Ambon, Seram)
* ''N. c. epicoritus''
(Boisduval, 1832) (Aru, Gebe, New Guinea, Waigeo)
* ''N. c. hamilcar''
(Grose-Smith, 1894) (Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago)
* ''N. c. illustris''
(Röber, 1886) (Kai Islands)
* ''N. c. murua''
(Tennent, 2015) (Woodlark Island)
* ''N. c. obiana''
(Fruhstorfer, 1915) (Obi)
* ''N. c. pindus''
(C. & R. Felder, 865
__NOTOC__
Year 865 ( DCCCLXV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Europe
* King Louis the German divides the East Frankish Kingdom among his three sons. Carloman receives Bavaria (with more l ...
(Bacan, Halmahera, Morotai, Ternate, Salawati)
* ''N. c. rosselana''
(Bethune-Baker, 1908) (Louisade Archipelago)
* ''N. c. sanane''
(Tennent & Gassó Miracle, 2016)[Tennent, W. J. & Gassó Miracle, M. E. (2016)]
"A new subspecies of ''Nacaduba cyanea'' Cramer, 1775, from Buru, Maluku, Indonesia (Lepidoptera, Lycaenidae)"
''Tijdschrift voor Entomologie'' 159 (2): 81-88. (Buru)
* ''N. c. smaragdus''
(Druce & Bethune-Baker, 1893) (Dammer, Wetar)
References
Butterflies described in 1775
Nacaduba
Taxa named by Pieter Cramer
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