Jalmenus inous Hewitson, [1865]
(one synonym: Ialmenus menecles)
Inous Blue
ZESIINI , THECLINAE ,
LYCAENIDAE
Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 24 June 2002)
The Caterpillar is flat and brown with light and dark dorsal
stripes.
It has tubercles on the thorax and last abdominal segent
each with a bunch of short white hairs.
It rest by day on the stems of foodplants
just below ground level, and climbs up to feed nocturnally .
Its foodplants include :
Sandplain Poison ( Gastrolobium microcarpum,
FABACEAE ),
Marno ( Daviesia divaricata,
FABACEAE ),
Spiny Bitter Pea ( Daviesia benthamii,
FABACEAE ),
Beach Acacia ( Acacia cyanophylla = rostellifera,
MIMOSACEAE ), and
Golden Wreath Wattle ( Acacia saligna,
MIMOSACEAE ),
and is always to be attended by numbers of
small black ants :
Iridomyrmex conifer (
DOLICHODERINAE ), or
Iridomyrmex rufoniger (
DOLICHODERINAE ).
The pupa is attached to the foodplant stem,
again just below ground level.
(Specimen: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
The adult is metallic blue in colour with wide black wing margins.
The veins on the hind wings are extended.
(Specimen: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
The undersurfaces of the wings are brown, marked with
arcs of darker brown spots,
and a subterminal arc of pale chevrons.
There are orange-edged black spots under the rear margin
of each hind wing.
The wingspan is about 3 cms.
The species occurs in Western Australia as two subspecies :
inous near the coast, and
notocrucifer inland.
Further reading :
Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 730-731.
