The Varied Dusky-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 40 mm. Adults males have dark bronze wings. Females are also bronze, but have a substantial area with a blue sheen on each wing. The underside of both sexes is fawn with arcs of darker spots and two black spots under the tornus of each forewing.

The larvae have been recorded feeding on the young shoots of Cassytha melantha

Cassytha melantha

Cassytha melantha is a parasitic vine. Common names include Coarse Dodder-laurel and Large Dodder-laurel. The fruits are about 10-15 millimetres in diameter and are green, drying to black...

, Cassytha racemosa and Cassytha peninsularis. They are green with orange patches and are covered in sparse short white hairs. Pupation takes place in a mottled brown pupa with a length of about 13 mm.

Subspecies

• Candalides hyacinthina hyacinthina - Common Dusky Blue (southern Queensland to central Victoria, Grampians)
• Candalides hyacinthina simplexa (Tepper, 1882) - Western Dusky Blue (north-western Victoria, Southern Australia, Western Australia)
• Candalides hyacinthina eugenia Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914 (Queensland (Port Stewart to Yeppoon))
• Candalides hyacinthina josephina Harris, 1952 (Stawell)