Open AccessTHE LIFE HISTORY AND BIOLOGY OF PARALUCIA PYRODISCUS LUCIDA CROSBY (LEPIDOPTERA: LYCAENIDAE)
Author(s) -
Braby M. F.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
australian journal of entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1440-6055
pISSN - 1326-6756
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-6055.1990.tb00313.x
Subject(s) - biology , voltinism , lycaenidae , lepidoptera genitalia , diapause , larva , ecology , nest (protein structural motif) , life history , host (biology) , zoology , botany , biochemistry
Observations on the life history and biology of Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida Crosby were made in Victoria at Eltham‐Greensborough, Castlemaine and Kiata during 1987 and 1988. Details of the life cycle of P. p. lucida are presented and the early stages are described and compared with those of other species of Paralucia Waterhouse and Turner. P. p. lucida is uni‐ or bivoltine, overwinters as larvae and adults fly from late October to mid April, although the number of generations and flight period varies markedly with geographic location and prevailing climate. Larvae associate with Notoncus spp. ants and feed at night on a particular size or form of the host plant Bursaria spinosa var. spinosa . Larvae do not appear to diapause during winter but remain quiescent within the attendant ants’ nest at the base of the host plant. The effect of climatic constraints on larval activity, flight period and the life cycle of P. p. lucida are briefly discussed.