The Wattle Blue is a 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 in 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...

 and New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

.
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 20 mm. Adults have a pale blue upperside with chequered margins, but females also have a broad black band around the margins. They also have an arc of white scalloped markings on the hindwings. The underside of the wings is fawn with several white markings.

The larvae feed on Paraserianthes lophantha

Paraserianthes lophantha

Paraserianthes lophantha, commonly called Albizia, Cape Leeuwin Wattle or Crested Wattle, is a fast-growing tree that occurs naturally along the southwest coast of Western Australia, from Fremantle to King George Sound. It was first spread beyond southwest Australia by Baron Ferdinand von Mueller,...

, Sesbania cannabina, Acacia anceps, Acacia auriculiformis

Acacia auriculiformis

Acacia auriculiformis, commonly known as Auri, Earleaf acacia, Earpod wattle, Northern black wattle, Papuan wattle, Tan wattle, is a fast-growing, crooked, gnarly tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. It grows up to 30m tall...

, Acacia flavescens

Acacia flavescens

Acacia flavescens, also known as the red or yellow Wattle, is a tree in the Acacia genus native to eastern Australia....

, Acacia pycnantha, Acacia salicina

Acacia salicina

Acacia salicina is a thornless species of Acacia tree native to Australia.Common names include Cooba, Native Willow, Willow Wattle, Broughton Willow,Sally Wattle and Black Wattle....

, Acacia saligna

Acacia saligna

Acacia saligna, commonly known by various names including coojong, golden wreath wattle, orange wattle, blue-leafed wattle, Western Australian golden wattle, and, in Africa, Port Jackson willow, is a small tree in the family Fabaceae...

, Acacia tetragonophylla, Acacia harpophylla

Acacia harpophylla

Acacia harpophylla, commonly known as the Brigalow , Brigalow Spearwood or Orkor is an endemic tree of Australia. It is found in central and coastal Queensland to northern New South Wales. It can reach up to 25 meters tall and forms extensive open-forest communities on clay soils.Two species,...

, Acacia holosericea

Acacia holosericea

Acacia holosericea, is a shrub native to tropical and inland northern Australia. It is commonly known as Soapbush wattle or Strap Wattle....

, Acacia neriifolia

Acacia neriifolia

Acacia neriifolia, also known as the Oleander Wattle, is a tree in the Acacia genus, originally from Australia. It is common in the Moonbi Ranges and is also found in Ibiza.- References :***...

, Acacia victoriae

Acacia victoriae

Acacia victoriae commonly known as Gundabluie or Bardi bush is a shrub or tree native to Australia. It grows 2–5 m, sometimes 9 m tall. It has spines 2–12 mm in length.Subspecies:A. victoriae subsp. arida Pedley-Uses:...

, Alectryon diversifolius, Hakea vittata, Atalaya variifolia and Eucalyptus polycarpa. They prefer young seedlings. They are dark green or brown with a dark dorsal band and pale diagonal streaks. It is attended by various black or green ants.

Subspecies

• Theclinesthes miskini miskini (Australia: Cairns to Moruya, Nothern Territory)
• Theclinesthes miskini arnoldi (Fruhstorfer, 1916) (Cape York, Bismarck Archipelago)
• Theclinesthes miskini eucalypti Sibatani & Grund, 1978 (Queensland)