Phil Bendle Collection:Coastal Copper butterfly (Lycaena salustius)

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
(unranked): Rhopalocera
Superfamily: Papilionoidea
Family: Lycaenidae
Subfamily: Lycaeninae
Genus: Lycaena
Species: L. salustius
Binomial name: Lycaena salustius
Common name: Coastal Copper Butterfly, 

The Coastal Copper (Lycaena salustius) is a small butterfly up to 33 mm of the Lycaenidae family. It is found only in New Zealand. They are common in mid-summer in warm open places and are attracted to blackberry flowers. places Markings are very variable, especially the female. The green slug-like caterpillars of this butterfly feed on the plant species: Polygonaceae, Muehlenbeckia and Rumex.

A male and female Lycaena salustius. The lower butterfly is the male.

Male
[1]

[2]

Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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