Lycaena rauparaha

Eggs are laid singularly on the underside of a leaf of a food plant, typically Muehlenbeckia complexa[4] although the species has also been recorded on Muehlenbeckia axillaris,[5] and are greenish-blue with white ridges.[5]

The larvae are velvet green and closely resemble those of Lycaena salustius.[5] It has the typical lappets and ridges of Lycaena species.[4] It overwinters as larva, after the first moult, possibly in response to seasonal unavailability of its deciduous food plant.[5]

Pupation occurs in October. Pupae are green-yellow with red-brown wing casings, similar in appearance to those of Lycaena salustius, but without the latter's black abdominal spots.[5] Pupae are hidden on the ground under a dead leaf to which they secure themselves.[4]

Lycaena rauparaha has a wing span of 25 to 31 mm, and is less variable in appearance than other Lycaena species occurring in New Zealand.[5] According to G.W. Gibbs (1980), it resembles the other species in (what was at the time known as) the salustius-rauparaha-feredayi complex, but unlike Lycaena salustius, its wing veins are marked with single, not double, black lines; and unlike Lycaena feredayi, the underside of its hindwings is either “uniformly banana-yellow with some indistinct markings” or “spangled with pale yellow scales overlying brown ground colour”; whereas in L. feredayi, the underside of the hindwings of is either yellow at the base with a brown central patch, or fully brown-orangish.[6] Female specimens have stronger vein markings than males.[5] Lycaena rauparaha has a quick, jerky flight pattern that remains near the ground.[4] They generally do not travel far from their larval food plant.[5]