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Lampides boeticus

Long-tailed Blue

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Female - details (male - to add)	36KB
Image:	Adult - female	64KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Long-tailed Blue, Pea Blue, Long-tailed Pea-blue

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE w.Europe - Africa - Polynesia, NZ.

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Land, lowlands

KEY FEATURES: Medium butterfly, 11mmBL. Wing topside blue in males with black edging, grey in females. Hindwing underside, both sexes, two black spots, and distinctive slender tail. Caterpillar on legume flowers and young pods.

SIMILAR SPECIES: From other Cook Islands blues by hindwing underside having two black spots and a slender tail.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Lampides boeticus (Linnaeus, 1767)
SYNONYMS: Papilio boeticus

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; ARTHROPODA; ATELOCERATA; HEXAPODA; INSECTA; PTERYGOTA; Lepidoptera; LYCAENIDAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: Medium, to 11mm BL. MALE WINGS topside fore wings iridescent, dark navy blue edged in black then white distally; hind wings as fore wings but with 2 black eye spots in anal veins edged in white, with orange anteriorly. Two black and white tails. FEMALE WINGS much greyer all over; suffused with iridescent blue behind cell in fresh specimens. Eye markings and tails similar to male but less intense orange. WINGS underside (both sexes) greyish brown with rows of white wavy lines; eye spots also on underside, black with blue behind and orange in front. THORAX & ABDOMEN dark greyish black suffused with some blue scales. ANTENNAE black and white alternating bands; terminal club fuscous.

GENERAL NOTE: Caterpillar in flowers and young pods of legumes.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: specimens+photo 167, 695, 698, BESO 1999, ID J.Dugdale.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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