This long-tailed blue butterfly (Lampides boeticus) is on flowering gorse. It lays its eggs in unopened gorse flower buds. When the larva hatches it eats much of the flower. The species was first observed in New Zealand in 1965. It is self-introduced so is considered native, and is also found in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and islands of the Pacific, including Hawaii.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Department of Conservation
Reference:
10042782
Photograph by George W. Gibbs
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