Hypolycaena phorbas 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 Waigeo

Waigeo

Waigeo is an island in West Papua province of eastern Indonesia. The island is also known as Amberi, or Waigiu. It is the largest of the four main islands in the Raja Ampat Islands archipelago, between Halmahera and about 65 km to the northwest coast of New Guinea...

, Biak

Biak

Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 27 degrees celsius, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak...

, Roon Island, mainland 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...

 and various outlying
islands as well as 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...

.

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 are brown on top. The forewings of the males have a blue sheen and a large dark patch in the middle, while females have a white patch with a blue edge. The hindwings of both males and females have two tails beside a large black and white eye spot. The underside is fawn, with two rows of darker spots parallel to the wing margins. There are two small orange and black eye spots on the underside of the hindwings.

The larvae have been recorded feeding on the leaves, young shoots, buds, and flowers of a wide range of plants, including Flagellaria indica

Flagellaria indica

Flagellaria indica is a climbing plant found in many of the tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World, India, South East Asia, Polynesia and Australia....

, Dendrophthoe vitellina

Dendrophthoe vitellina

Dendrophthoe vitellina, commonly known as Long-flowered- or Apostle Mistletoe, is a hemiparasitic plant of the Loranthaceae family of mistletoes. The genus Dendrophthoe comprises about 31 species spread across tropical Africa, Asia, and Australia...

, Cassia alata, Cassia fistula, Cupaniopsis anacardioides

Cupaniopsis anacardioides

Cupaniopsis anacardioides, with common names Tuckeroo, Carrotwood, Beach Tamarind and Green-leaved Tamarind,is a species of flowering tree in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, that is native to eastern and northern Australia. The usual habitat is littoral rainforest on sand or near estuaries...

, Acmena

Acmena

Acmena is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. They are related to guavas. The name is derived from the Greek word for "plentiful."The name was first validly published in 1828...

, Eugenia

Eugenia

Eugenia is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,000 species occur in the New World tropics, especially in the northern Andes, the Caribbean, and the...

, Suzygium wilsoni, Planchonia careya

Planchonia careya

Planchonia careya is a tree species in the family Lecythidaceae. Common names include cocky apple, cockatoo apple and billygoat plum. It produces an edible fruit which tastes like quince. Indigenous Australians use the bark and leaves in medications. The bark and roots were also used as a fish poison...

, Ceriops tagal, Lumnitzera racemosa, Terminalia melanocarpa, Aegiceras corniculatum

Aegiceras corniculatum

Aegiceras corniculatum, commonly known as Black Mangrove or River Mangrove, is a species of shrub or tree mangrove in the Myrsine family with a distribution in coastal and estuarine areas ranging from India through South East Asia to southern China, New Guinea and Australia.-Description:Aegiceras...

, Clerodendrum floribundum

Clerodendrum floribundum

Clerodendrum floribundum, known as the Lolly Bush or Smooth Clerodendrum, is a shrub or tree found in Australia and New Guinea. The habitat is in or at the margins of coastal rainforests, up to 300 metres above sea level...

, Clerodendrum inerme and Faradaya splendida. They are green or brown, with a white-edged dorsal line. They are attended by Oecophylla smaragdina

Oecophylla smaragdina

Oecophylla smaragdina is a species of arboreal ant found in Asia and Australia. They make nests in trees made of leaves stitched together using the silk produced by their larvae.Weaver ants may be red or green...

ants. They usually hide under a leaf during the day.

Pupation takes place on the stem of the food plant, often in groups. The pupa is green or brown with dark flecks and mottling.

Subspecies

• Hypolycaena phorbas phorbas (Cape York to Yeppoon)
• Hypolycaena phorbas ingura Tindale, 1923 (Northern Territory)
• Hypolycaena phorbas silo Fruhstorfer, 1912 (West Irian, Papua) (=Hypolycaena phorbas walteri Fruhstorfer, 1916)
• Hypolycaena phorbas dictaea C. & R. Felder, 1865 (Waigeu, Misool and possibly Salawati)
• Hypolycaena phorbas infumata Fruhstorfer, 1910 (Manam Island)
• Hypolycaena phorbas periphorbas Butler, 1882 (New Britain)
• Hypolycaena phorbas pseudophorbas Fruhstorfer, 1914 (Biak, Roon island) (=Hypolycaena phorbas latostrigatus van Eecke, 1915)