Bug card No. 4282 of 4,939

Tailless lineblue

Prosotas dubiosa

Eats: Nectar and pollen ButterfliesRainforests and jungles6 legs

The tailless lineblue is a tiny blue butterfly from Asia and Australia. Many of its cousins have thin tails on their back wings, but this one does not. That is how it got its name.

Lives in

From India and Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia

Top speed

about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless. It cannot bite or sting.

What does it eat?

The butterflies sip nectar from flowers.

Photo of Tailless lineblue — Picture by J.M.Garg. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

Tailless lineblue about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Its other name is the small purple lineblue.

In Australia it lives from the north down to Coffs Harbour in New South Wales.

There are at least five slightly different forms living in different places.

you asked

Most asked questions about Tailless lineblue

?Why is it called tailless?

Because, unlike many of its cousins, it has no thin tails on its back wings.

?Where does the tailless lineblue live?

In southern Asia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Australia.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Prosotas dubiosa
Named by: Semper, 1879
Group: Butterflies
Family: Lycaenidae
Classification: Insecta > Lepidoptera > Lycaenidae
Lives on: Asia, Australia and Oceania
Also known as: Small purple lineblue

Where the facts come from

Prosotas dubiosa (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
Picture by J.M.Garg. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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