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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 39(4), 1985, 276-279
THE FOOD PLANTS OF JALMENUS DAEMELI SEMPER
(LYCAENIDAE) WITH NOTES ON OTHER BUTTERFLIES
AND ACACIA FOOD PLANTS
T. J. Hawkeswood
49 Venner Road, Annerley, Brisbane, Queensland 4103, Australia
ABSTRACT. The literature providing larval food plant data for Jalmenus daemeli Semper (Lycaenidae) is summarized. A new larval host plant, Acacia leucoclada Tindale subsp. argentifolia Tindale (Mimosaceae) is recorded from the Warwick district, southeastern Queensland. One previously overlooked host, A. pendula A. Cunn. ex G. Don, is included here from the published literature. The name Acacia cunninghamii Hook, is no longer valid as the food plant for four butterflies, Jalmenus evagoras (Donovan), J. daemeli Semper, J. ictinus Hewitson and Hypochrysops delicia delicia Hewitson, since the revised classification of Acacia in Queensland does not allow accurate determinations for the food plants referred to under the name cunninghamii. Comments are made on a new host recorded for J. evagoras. The known larval hosts for J. daemeli are 12 and for J. evagoras 15.
Jalmenus daemeli Semper (Darnel's blue) occurs from Cairns to Brisbane in scattered localities along the coast and also in certain inland localities such as Eidsvold, Gayndah, Toowoomba, Stanthorpe and Mil-merran (Common & Waterhouse, 1972, 1981). Atkins (1976) recorded J. daemeli from various localities in central Queensland, while De Baar (1977) recorded it from an area between Bunya Mountains and Ar-chookoora State Forest in southeastern Queensland. The species is noteworthy in usually having large, isolated populations. Little has been published on its biology. Following the convention of an earlier paper on the larval food plants of Jalmenus evagoras (Donovan) (Hawkeswood, 1981), the known larval hosts of J. daemeli are listed and discussed below.
Larval Host Plants
The first records of Acacia (Mimosaceae) being listed as larval food plants appears to be those of Lucas (1889) and Illidge (1898). They noted that J. daemeli (Ialmenus illidgei Lucas, in the case of Lucas, 1889) fed on wattles in the Brisbane area, southeastern Queensland. Gurney (1911) also stated the species fed on wattles. However, none of these authors provided specific determinations for these plants. Illidge (1921) recorded myall (Acacia pendula A. Cunn. ex G. Don) as a larval food plant from the Jandowae district, southeastern Queensland. This record was overlooked by Common and Waterhouse (1972, 1981). Illidge (1921) noted that the butterfly was abundant in all stages on young myall trees and were attended by ants. Manski (1960) recorded Acacia cunninghamii Hook, as a food plant from Marybor-
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ough, Scarborough and Redcliffe (the latter two localities are now outer suburbs of Brisbane). Waterhouse (1932:190) recorded brigalow (Acacia harpophylla F. Muell. ex Benth.) as a host, while Common (1964: 92) recorded A. harpophylla and "other wattles" and Heterodendrum (Sapindaceae). Macqueen (1965) recorded /. daemeli as occasionally attacking Heterodendrum diversifolium F. Muell. (Sapindaceae). He also noted that in the Toowoomba district, southeastern Queensland, J. daemeli fed solely on the silver-leaf ironbark, Eucalyptus melano-phloia F. Muell. (Myrtaceae) and another unidentified species of blood-wood, Eucalyptus sp., despite Acacia being plentiful in the district. Harslett (1965) recorded Acacia neriifolia A. Cunn. ex Benth., A. decurrens (Wendl.) Willd. and A. irrorata Sieb. ex Spreng. as food plants from Stanthorpe, southeastern Queensland. It should be noted that A. decurrens (green wattle) is endemic to New South Wales and Victoria and is naturalized near Toowoomba and Stanthorpe (Pedley, 1978; Stanley & Ross, 1983). Atkins (1975) recorded Acacia bidwillii Benth. (erroneously cited as Acacia bidwelli Benth.) as a larval host from four localities in central Queensland, viz. Rockhampton, Thompson's Point, Wycarbah and Broadsound Range. He also recorded A. bancroftii Maiden and A. macradenia Benth. as food plants from the Expedition Range, central Queensland. Lane (1979) noted, "It is of interest that Acacia bidwillii has also been observed as a food plant of /. daemeli Semper in numerous localities between Rockhampton and Mackay, Queensland," but he did not provide a reference. Presumably his comments are based on observations by Atkins (1975). I have also observed larvae and pupae on the leaves and stems of young A. bidwillii plants (about 1 m high) growing on the James Cook University campus, Townsville, north Queensland, during 16-26 November 1981. They were associated with large numbers of an Iridomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Adult butterflies visited the open flowers of A. bidwillii (Hawkeswood, 1985). Mr. M. De Baar (June 1984, pers. comm.) has recorded large numbers of larvae and pupae of /. daemeli on Acacia leucoclada Tindale subsp. argentifolia Tindale, 25 km south of Warwick, southeastern Queensland during January 1983. This is a previously unrecorded host for this butterfly.
Manski (1960) recorded A. cunninghamii Hook, as a larval host for four species of Lycaenidae—Hypochrysops delicia delicia Hewitson, Jalmenus evagoras evagoras (Donovan), /. ictinus Hewitson and J. daemeli Semper (noted above). (Waterhouse (1932) originally recorded this Acacia for H. d. delicia). However, in a recent revision of the Queensland Acacia species, Pedley (1978) noted that the name A. cunninghamii had been applied loosely to six Acacia species, viz. A. tropica (Maiden et Blakely) Tindale, A. cretata Pedley, A. longispicata
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Benth. (ssp. longispicata and velutina Pedley), A. crassa Pedley (ssp. crassa and longicoma Pedley), A. concurrens Pedley and A. leiocalyx (Domin) Pedley (ssp. leiocalyx and herveyensis Pedley). (As a result of Pedley's revision, the name cunninghamii should not be used for any Acacia). Therefore, the records of A. cunninghamii as a host could apply to any of the above six species. In respect to /. daemeli, J. evagoras and /. ictinus, the observations by Manski (1960) were made in the Maryborough and Brisbane districts, while those of H. d. delicia were restricted to Maryborough. Of the six Acacia species noted above, only two, A. crassa longicoma and A. leiocalyx leiocalyx, are known to occur naturally in the Maryborough district, while A. concurrens and A. leiocalyx leiocalyx grow in the Brisbane district (from Pedley, 1978). Since A. leiocalyx is usually more common in both districts, it is possible that the name A. cunninghamii, referred to in Manski (1960), refers to this species. Whether /. daemeli and the other butterflies utilize A. concurrens, A. leiocalyx and A. crassus, or a combination of these, must await the results of further field work. In the meantime, the name A. cunninghamii listed in Waterhouse (1932), Manski (1960), Common and Waterhouse (1972, 1981) and Hawkeswood (1981) should be disregarded.
For J. daemeli, there are 12 known larval host plants, viz. Acacia bancroftii, bidwillii, decurrens, harpophylla, irrorata, leucoclada subsp. argentifolia, macradenia, neriifolia, pendula, Heterodendrum diver-sifolium, Eucalyptus melanophloia and Eucalyptus sp.
In reference to Jalmenus evagoras, Dunn (1984) recently recorded a new larval host, Acacia diffusa Ker (erroneously cited as Acacia diffusa Lindl.). This species is regarded as a synonym of Acacia genis-tifolia Link (Jacobs & Pickard, 1981). With A. cunninghamii omitted from my list (i.e., Hawkeswood, 1981) and A. genistifolia included, the number of larval hosts remains at 15, all of which are Acacia species.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Mr. M. De Baar, Department of Forestry, Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Queensland, for his unpublished information on J. daemeli, for discussions on the general biology of butterflies and their food plants and for pointing out several references. I also thank Mr. A. Hiller, Mt. Glorious, Queensland for information on J. daemeli. This research was undertaken on private funds.
Literature Cited
Atkins, A. F. 1975. Larval food plants of some Queensland butterflies. News Bull.
Entomol. Soc. Qd. 3:117-119. ---------- 1976. New records for butterflies in southern, central and northern Queensland.
Aust. Entomol. Mag. 3:1-4. Common, I. F. B. 1964. Australian butterflies. Jacaranda Press, Brisbane. 131 pp.
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Common, I. F. B. & D. F. Waterhouse. 1972, 1981. Butterflies of Australia. Angus & Robertson, Sydney. 1st ed. 498 pp. (1972), 2nd Ed. 682 pp. (1981).
De Baar, M. 1977. Butterflies from an area between the Bunya Mountains and Ar-chookoora State Forest, Queensland. Aust. Entomol. Mag. 3:115-119.
Dunn, K. L. 1984. Acacia diffusa Lindl.—A new larval foodplant for Jalmenus eva-goras evagoras (Donovan) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Vict. Entomol. 14:8.
Gurney, W. B. 1911. A study of wattle trees (Acacia) and a list of insects of wattle trees. Aust. Nat. 2:56-59.
Harslett, J. 1965. Butterflies from the Stanthorpe district, Queensland, with notes on their food plants. Qd. Nat. 17:106-112.
Hawkeswood, T. J. 1981. The food plants of Jalmenus evagoras (Donovan) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Aust. Entomol. Mag. 8:1-2.
---------- 1985. The role of butterflies as pollinators of Acacia bidwillii Benth. (Mimo-
saceae) at Townsville, north Queensland. Aust. J. Bot. 33:167-173.
Illidge, R. 1898. List of butterflies of the Brisbane district. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qd. 13: 89-102.
---------- 1921. Rhopalocera of the Jandowae district of the Darling Downs. Qd. Nat. 3:
23-24. (See also Errata, Qd. Nat. 3:48.)
Jacobs, S. W. L. & J. Pickard. 1981. Plants of New South Wales. Government Printer, Sydney. 226 pp.
Lane, D. A. 1979. Life history notes and distribution records for some Queensland butterflies. Aust. Entomol. Mag. 5:115-117.
Lucas, T. P. 1889. Six new species of Rhopalocera. Proc. Roy. Soc. Qd. 6:155-161.
Macqueen, J. 1965. Notes on Australian Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera). J. Entomol. Soc. Qd. 4:56-57.
Manski, M. J. 1960. Food plants of some Queensland Lepidoptera. Qd. Nat. 16:68-73.
Pedley, L. 1978. A revision of Acacia Mill, in Queensland. Austrobaileya 1:75-234.
Stanley, T. D. & E. M. Ross. 1983. Flora of south-eastern Queensland. Vol. I. Queensland Dept. of Primary Industries, Misc. Publ. 81020, Government Printer, Brisbane. 545 pp.
Waterhouse, G. A. 1932. What butterfly is that? Angus & Robertson, Sydney. 291 pp.