Species Jalmenus icilius Hewitson, 1865
Amethyst Hairstreak, Icilius Blue
- Ialmenus icilius Hewitson, W.C. 1865. Illustrations of Diurnal Lepidoptera. Lycaenidae. Text. London : John van Voorst Vol. 1(2) 37-76 pp. [54 pl. 24 fig. 3].
Type data:
Syntype(s) BMNH ♂, Hewitson (in original description gave no locality)
Comment: Hewitson in the original description mentioned males in OUM and the Hewitson collection; Kirby, W.F. 1879. Catalogue of the Collection of Diurnal Lepidoptera Formed by the Late William Chapman Hewitson, of Oatlands, Walton-on-Thames; and Bequeathed by Him to the British Museum. London : John van Voorst iv 246 pp. [150] (listed two specimens in the Hewitson collection; in ms notes); Waterhouse, G.A. 1936. [unpublished personal manuscript of observations made at the BMNH (Lycaenidae)]. Photocopy located at ANIC, Canberra, ACT. 92 pp. [84] (discussed only the BMNH specimens: No. 1 was inous in poor condition and No. 2 was icilius, the latter has not been designated as a lectotype and it is remarkable that, with several similar species recently described, no author has sought to verify the identity of icilius; the OUM material has not been investigated).Type locality references:
Kirby, W.F. 1871. A Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera. London : John van Voorst viii 690 pp. [406] (listed Australia as the locality, and no more accurate restriction has been made); Kirby, W.F. 1879. Catalogue of the Collection of Diurnal Lepidoptera Formed by the Late William Chapman Hewitson, of Oatlands, Walton-on-Thames; and Bequeathed by Him to the British Museum. London : John van Voorst iv 246 pp.; Waterhouse, G.A. 1936. [unpublished personal manuscript of observations made at the BMNH (Lycaenidae)]. Photocopy located at ANIC, Canberra, ACT. 92 pp. - Cupido oeneus Tepper, J.G.O. 1882. The Papilionidae of South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 4: 25-36 pls 2, 3 [29 pl. 9, f 2].
Type data:
Syntype(s) SAMA ♂ ♀, Counties of Adelaide and Light, SA (in original description)
Comment: Tepper in the original description mentioned both sexes but did not mention a type. - Ialmenus icilius mitchelli Edwards, E.O. 1951. New races of Ialmenus icilius. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1949–50: 58-60 [59].
Type data:
Holotype AM KL24056 ♀ (Edwards designated a holotype), Mitchell, QLD (near Womallila Creek, 20 miles S of Mitchell, Western Queensland, designated in original description).
Paratype(s) AM KL24051 1♂, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24045 1♂, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24046 2♂, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24048 1♀, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24050 1♂, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24052 1♂, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24053 1♀, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24054 1♀, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24055 1♀, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24057 1♀, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24058 1♀, Mitchell, QLD; AM KL24059 1♀, Mitchell, QLD
Comment: 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. [24] (type information). - Ialmenus icilius obscurus Edwards, E.O. 1951. New races of Ialmenus icilius. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1949–50: 58-60 [59].
Type data:
Holotype AM KL24049 ♀ (Edwards designated a holotype), Mitchell, QLD (designated in original description).
Paratype(s) AM KL24049 1♂, Mitchell, QLD
Comment: 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. [25] (type information). - Ialmenus icilius parvus Burns, A.N. 1951. Notes on Australian Rhopalocera with descriptions of new subspecies and life histories. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 17: 83-105 pls 1-6 [98].
Type data:
Syntype(s) NMV ♂; NMV 1♀, Geraldton, WA; NMV 1♂, Geraldton, WA; NMV T14472 ♂, Moonyoonooka, Geraldton, WA (designated in original description); NMV ♀, T14473; NMV T4227 ♂, Geraldton, WA
Comment: Burns in the original description mentioned types but not 'a type', thus these must be syntypes; the NMV web site listed the syntypes.
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Miskin, W.H. 1891. A synonymical catalogue of the Lepidoptera Rhopalocera (Butterflies) of Australia with full bibliographical reference: including descriptions of some new species. Annals of the Queensland Museum 1: [i]-xx 1-[93] [i]-ix [68] (synonymy of icilius and inous)
- Waterhouse, G.A. 1903. Catalogue of the Rhopalocera of Australia. Memoirs of the NSW Naturalists' Club No. 1. iii 49 pp. [30] (synonymy of oeneus with icilius and inous)
- Edwards, E.O. 1951. New races of Ialmenus icilius. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1949–50: 58-60 [58] (discussed confusion of inous and icilius)
- Common, I.F.B. & Waterhouse, D.F. 1972. Butterflies of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xii 498 pp. 41 pls. [331] (referred to two forms, mitchelli and obscurus; they also mention the subspecies parvus but do not recognise it)
Distribution
States
Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
Occurs throughout much of the subtropical areas of the inland, recorded in all states and territories of the mainland from the Selwyn Range, QLD, 30 km north of the Barkley Homestead, NT, and from Carnarvon to Kalgoorlie in WA, the species is generally common except in the south-eastern end of its range in central and western VIC, where it is now very scarce.
Australian Endemic.
IBRA
ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)
Original AFD Distribution Data
Australian Region
- Australia
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales: Bulloo River basin, Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Northern Territory: Lake Eyre basin, W plateau
- Queensland: Bulloo River basin, Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin
- South Australia: Lake Eyre basin, Murray-Darling basin, S Gulfs
- Victoria: Murray-Darling basin, SE coastal
- Western Australia: NW coastal, SW coastal, W plateau
Ecological Descriptors
Larva: attendant ants, herbivore (associated flora: Acacia mearnsii De Wild. [FABACEAE] Black Wattle; Acacia harpophylla F.Muell. ex Benth. [FABACEAE] Brigalow; Acacia deanei (R.T.Baker) M.B.Welch, Coombs & McGlynn [FABACEAE] Deane's Wattle; Acacia pycnantha Benth. [FABACEAE] Golden Wattle; Acacia saligna (Labill.) H.L. Wendl. [FABACEAE] Golden Wreath Wattle; Acacia acuminata Benth. [FABACEAE] Jam Wattle; Acacia aneura Benth. [FABACEAE] Mulga; Acacia parramattensis Tind. [FABACEAE] Parramatta Wattle; Acacia victoriae Benth. [FABACEAE] Prickly Wattle; Acacia rubida Cunn. [FABACEAE] Red-leaf Wattle; Acacia calamifolia Sweet ex Lindl. [FABACEAE] Reed-leaf Wattle; Senna artemisioides (Gaudich. ex DC.) Randell [FABACEAE] Silver Cassia; Acacia dealbata Link [FABACEAE] Silver Wattle; Acacia pendula A.Cunn. ex G.Don [FABACEAE] Weeping Myall; Acacia retinodes Schldl. [FABACEAE] Wirilda; Daviesia benthamii Meissner [FABACEAE]; Acacia anceps DC. [FABACEAE]).
Extra Ecological Information
Larvae are attended by Iridomyrmex sp. (rufoniger gp.).
General References
Burns, A.N. 1951. Notes on Australian Rhopalocera with descriptions of new subspecies and life histories. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 17: 83-105 pls 1-6 [98]
Edwards, E.O. 1951. New races of Ialmenus icilius. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1949–50: 58-60 [58]
Graham, A.J. & Moulds, M.S. 1988. A new species of Jalmenus Hubner (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Western Australia. General and Applied Entomology 20: 57-62 [62]
Pierce, N.E. & Nash, D.R. 1999. The Imperial Blue, Jalmenus evagoras (Lycaenidae). pp. 279-315 in Kitching, R.L., Scheermeyer, E., Jones, R.L. & Pierce, N.E. (eds). Biology of Australian Butterflies. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing xvi 395 pp. [280] (phylogeny)
Waterhouse, G.A. 1903. Notes on Australian Rhopalocera: Lycaenidae. Part III—Revisional. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 28(1): 132-275, pls 1-3 [259]
Waterhouse, G.A. 1913. Notes on Australian Lycaenidae. Part V. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 37(4): 698-702 [701]
Waterhouse, G.A. 1932. What Butterfly is That? A Guide to the Butterflies of Australia. Illustrated by Neville Cayley. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 291 pp. 34 pls. [Date published 15/Dec/1932] [191]
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07-Mar-2024 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
| 04-Feb-2023 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby (ANU) |
| 13-May-2022 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
| 26-Feb-2021 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
| 04-Jun-2020 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Michael Braby |
| 04-Jun-2020 | LYCAENIDAE Leach, 1815 | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | |
| 06-Sep-2017 | PAPILIONOIDEA | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | |
| 06-Sep-2017 | LYCAENIDAE | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | Dr Federica Turco (QM) |
| 05-Mar-2013 | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | ||
| 30-Mar-2012 | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | ||
| 28-Mar-2012 | 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED | ||
| 20-Jun-2024 | MODIFIED |