The Cyprotus Blue is a species of butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 of the Lycaenidae

Lycaenidae

The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...

 family. It is found along the east coast of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, including South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 and Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is about 30 mm. Adults females are dark brown with a large blue patch near the centre of each fore wing. Males are purple with a black trident mark near the centre of each forewing. The underside of both sexes is pale fawn with arcs of brown carets and dots under both the forewings and hindwings.

The larvae have been recorded feeding on Conospermum taxifolium

Conospermum taxifolium

Conospermum taxifolium is a shrub of the Proteaceae family native to eastern Australia, first described by Gaertner in 1807....

, Grevillea huegelii

Grevillea huegelii

Grevillea huegelii, commonly known as Comb Grevillea, is a shrub species which is endemic to southern Australia. The species was first formally described by botanist Carl Meissner in Plantae Preissianae in 1845....

, Grevillea bracteosa, Grevillea juniperina

Grevillea juniperina

Grevillea juniperina, commonly known as Juniper Grevillea, is a shrub which is endemic to eastern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland in Australia....

, Hakea leucoptera and Jacksonia scoparia

Jacksonia scoparia

Jacksonia scoparia, commonly known as dogwood , is a native species of a pea-flowered, greyish leafless broom-like shrub or small tree that occurs in the south east of Queensland, Australia and eastern New South Wales...

. They are green with pink and blue tubercles. Pupation takes place in a black pupa with a length of about 13 mm. It is made in the debris at the foot of the hostplant.

Subspecies

• Candalides cyprotus cyprotus - Cyprotus Blue (New South Wales to Western Australia)
• Candalides cyprotus pallescens (Tite, 1963) (southern Queensland)