Jalmenus ictinus

Stencilled Hairstreak at O'Connor, ACT

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Identification history

Jalmenus ictinus	29 Nov 2015	SuziBond
Jalmenus evagoras	28 Nov 2015	ibaird
Jalmenus evagoras	28 Nov 2015	michaelb
Jalmenus evagoras Imperial Hairstreak	28 Nov 2015	ibaird

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User's notes

Flying adults around the food plant, regenerating Acacia mearnsii? at Black Mountain NR in an area near the reserve boundary in a buffer area which has been cleared as a fire break. Attendant ants were also present clustering around pupae and single caterpillar. Ants (Iridoromyrmex?) are attracted to a sugary nectar exuded by the pupae/caterpillars

4 comments

SuziBond wrote:

29 Nov 2015

Upperside of Jalmenus evagoras (Imperial Hairstreak) is brighter blue with black; underside is slightly different and the attendant ants are different.

ibaird wrote:

30 Nov 2015

OK, on looking again at Braby, I see you are no doubt correct, the upper wing pattern is not what you would expect for an Imperial Hairstreak, but the underwing pattern was quite strong and led me to think it was evagoras after all. I presume both may be found in the ACT. I would be nice to see evagoras and compare

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

1 Dec 2015

Great photos Ian - Suzi you could use these as the standard images by selecting them under the define image option - let me know if you want me to run you through this

SuziBond wrote:

9 Dec 2015

Ian - a good spot for Imperial Hairstreaks is in the botanical gardens, not far from the start of the rainforest gully on the southern side - look for regenerating wattles near the two bottle trees.
Michael - I've tried to do this already but it wouldn't work for me, as I had the same idea as you with these images.

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