Subspecies Euchrysops cnejus cnidus Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914

Museums

Regional Maps

• Euchrysops cnejus cnidus Waterhouse, G.A. & Lyell, G. 1914. The Butterflies of Australia: a monograph of the Australian Rhopalocera introducing a complete scheme of structural classification, and giving descriptions and illustrations of all the butterflies found in Australia, including a number now recorded for the first time. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 239 pp. 38 pls + 3 unnumbered colour pls. [Date published 25 July 1914] [100].

  Type data:

   Lectotype AM KL24283 ♂, Mackay, QLD (Waterhouse & Lyell listed many localities including Mackay, QLD).
  Paralectotype(s) AM 1♀, Mackay, QLD
  Comment: Waterhouse & Lyell in the original description mentioned 69 males and 41 females.

  Type locality references:

  Peters, J.V. 1971. A Catalogue of the Type Specimens of the Hesperioidea and Papilionoidea (Lepidoptera) in the Australian Museum. Greenwich, NSW : Australian Entomological Press 36 pp. [29] (restricted the type locality to Mackay, QLD).
• Lycaena hypoleuca Prittwitz, O.F. von 1867. Lepidopterologisches. Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung 28(7–9): 257-277 [273] [junior primary homonym of Lycaena hypoleuca Kollar, 1849].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown ♂, Botany Bay, NSW (in original description)
  Comment: Prittwitz in the original description mentioned two males; Edwards, E.D. 1996. Lycaenidae. pp. 249–254, 360–363 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing 529 pp. [362] (stated that the type had not been found).

  Type locality references:

  Edwards, E.D. 1996. Lycaenidae. pp. 249-254, 360-363 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM. [362] (discussed problems with the type locality).
• Cupido amazara Kirby, W.F. 1871. A Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera. London : John van Voorst viii 690 pp. [376] [a replacement name for Lycaena hypoleuca Prittwitz; a senior subjective synonym of Euchrysops cnejus cnidus Waterhouse & Lyell; Edwards, E.D., Newland, J. & Regan, L. 2001. Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea, Papilionoidea. In Wells, A. & Houston, W.W.K. Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 31.6. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing, Australia. x 615 pp. this name has never been used as a valid name and, because of the doubt about its identity (the type has not been located) and doubt about whether the type locality of Botany Bay is accurate or even whether the species came from Australia, it is not used as an valid name here].

  Type data:

   Status unknown, whereabouts unknown ♂, Botany Bay, NSW (in original description)
  Comment: the types of amazara Kirby will be the same as those of hypoleuca Prittwitz.

  Type locality references:

  Edwards, E.D. 1996. Lycaenidae. pp. 249-254, 360-363 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM. [362] (discussed the type locality of hypoleuca Prittwitz).

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Lane & Moulds (2015: 33) report this species from Hammond Island, Torres Strait; extralimital distribution—Indonesia (Irian Jaya), Papua New Guinea.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: SE coastal
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Queensland: N Gulf, NE coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal
• Indonesia
  • Irian Jaya
• Papua New Guinea

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

Larva: herbivore.

 

General References

Common, I.F.B. & Waterhouse, D.F. 1981. Butterflies of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xiv 682 pp. 49 pls. [593]

Dick, W.D. 1947. The life history of the Cupid Blue (Euchrysops cnejus cnidus Waterhouse and Lyell, 1914). Queensland Naturalist 13: 79-81 [79] (biology)

Dunn, K.L. & Dunn, L.E. 1991. Review of Australian Butterflies: distribution, life history and taxonomy. Family Lycaenidae. Melbourne : K. & L. Dunn Vol. 3 336-512 pp. [424]

Parsons, M.J. 1998. The Butterflies of Papua New Guinea; their systematics and biology. San Diego : Academic Press 736 pp. [475]

Smales, M. & Ledward, C.P. 1943. Notes on the life histories of some lycaenid butterflies. Part II. (With notes on some skippers). Queensland Naturalist 12(3): 47-52 [51] (biology)

Waterhouse, G.A. & Lyell, G. 1914. The Butterflies of Australia: a monograph of the Australian Rhopalocera introducing a complete scheme of structural classification, and giving descriptions and illustrations of all the butterflies found in Australia, including a number now recorded for the first time. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 239 pp. 38 pls + 3 unnumbered colour pls. [Date published 25 July 1914] [100]

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
06-Sep-2017	LYCAENIDAE	22-Jul-2015	MODIFIED	Dr Federica Turco (QM)
06-Sep-2017		16-Jul-2013	MODIFIED
05-Mar-2013		05-Mar-2013	MODIFIED
30-Mar-2012		30-Mar-2012	MODIFIED
28-Mar-2012		28-Mar-2012	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)