Plumbago Blue (Leptotes plinius)

Plumbago (or Zebra) Blue Leptotes plinius
Wingspan: 22 mm - 23 mm

Sighted at Claire Cottage: Nov - May

Distribution: From Port Stewart, 230k north of Cooktown, FNQ south to Bundanoon, NSW and sporadically in northern WA, in the NT and western and central southern QLD.

Status Claire Cottage: seen annually
Status Dorrigo Plateau: thought to be uncommon

NOTE: Similar species: None

Plumbago Blue laying eggs on our Plumbago auriculata, 2 Feb 2016

A female Plumbago Blue showing just a flash of blue adding to its grey and white upper-surface colouring on all four wings, 3 Mar 2017

A male Plumbago Blue showing the blue on its forewings, 3 Mar 2017

The striped underside of a Plumbago Blue is very distinctive, 1 Feb 2016

A male Plumbago Blue - they don't sit with their wings open for very long, 13 Apr 2016

Another male 25 Feb 2018

Plumbago Blue on Plumbago auriculata in Coffs Harbour, 29 Mar 2012

A female Plumbago Blue settled on our exotic *Plumbago auriculata, 7 Jan 2018

An egg on our exotic Plumbago - *Plumbago auriculata - January 2018

An earlier instar larva, 28 Jan 2018 (measures approx 1 - 1.5 mm)

Interesting Facts - 26 Jan 2018 By closely watching Plumbago Blue females settling on our exotic Plumbago auriculata flower heads we were able to finally locate their minute eggs (photo above)

An egg about to hatch - 8 Mar 2021

Final instar larva, 22 Mar 2021

Pupa of above caterpillar, early Apr 2021

This male hatched on 19 Apr 2021 from our pupa.

CLAIRE COTTAGE: Nov 2018, Dec 2017, 2018, Jan 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, Feb 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, Mar 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, Apr 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, May 2018,

DORRIGO PLATEAU elsewhere: None to date

Egg Sightings:

CLAIRE COTTAGE: Jan 2018, Feb 2016, Mar 2021,
DORRIGO PLATEAU elsewhere: None to date

Larva Sightings:

CLAIRE COTTAGE: Jan 2018, Mar 2021,
DORRIGO PLATEAU elsewhere: None to date

Pupa Sightings:

CLAIRE COTTAGE: Apr 2021,
DORRIGO PLATEAU elsewhere: None to date

Larval Food Plants:

CLAIRE COTTAGE: PLUMBAGINACEAE: Plumbago zeylanica, *Plumbago auriculata
DORRIGO PLATEAU elsewhere: (as for Claire Cottage)

ELSEWHERE: (as for Claire Cottage)

Habitat where found at Claire Cottage: Garden
Known to be breeding at Claire Cottage: Yes

Flight habit: Throughout the day.
First warm season sighting - Claire Cottage: 27/11/2016
Last warm season sighting - Claire Cottage: 04/05/2018

Additional information:
Larval Food Plant: Larva only feed on the flower buds and flowers of Plumbago zeylanica and the introduced garden plant *Plumbago auriculata.

This tiny, fast flying butterfly is easy to identify when it settles by its speckled under wings and the small tail on its hindwings. Notice the difference between the female and the male upper wings - the female being speckled and the male blue. It is about the same size as the Common Grass Blue but usually flies higher and feeds on flowers above ground level. We have seen Plumbago Blue butterflies feeding on the flowers of large Plumbago auriculata shrubs, on Verbena and on the herb, Rosemary.

First Claire Cottage (CC) Sighting: We first saw Plumbago Blue butterflies at CC in FEBRUARY 2016 and were thrilled to get the photo of a female laying eggs on one of our *Plumbago auriculata bushes. We watched her for about an hour flying around the bush laying her eggs on flower buds and bracts.

In APRIL 2016 the hatchlings from the eggs laid earlier in the year on our *Plumbago auriculata bushes were flying around the garden. We are hoping they will come back next summer, perhaps hibernating in the garden.

It was then with great excitement that we witnessed our first two Zebra Blues in the garden next summer in late January 2017.

Larvae are attended occasionally by ants.

First warm season sighting - Claire Cottage, Dorrigo Plateau: 31/01/21.

Last autumn sighting - Claire Cottage, Dorrigo Plateau: Male-04/05/18, 19/04/21, Female-05/05/18, 24/04/20,