The Pencilled Blue or Common Pencil-blue (Candalides absimilis) is a species of butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 of the Lycaenidae

Lycaenidae

The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...

 family. It is found along the east coast of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, including Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, the Australian Capital Territory

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

, New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 and Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 is about 30 mm. Adult males are grey-blue, while females are brown on top with a large white patch on each wing, and a purple sheen near the hinges. The underside of both sexes is white with rows of fawn carets.

The larvae have been recorded feeding on buds and young shoots of a wide range of plants, including Flagellaria, Macadamia integrifolia

Macadamia integrifolia

Macadamia integrifolia is a tree in the Proteaceae family, native to Queensland in Australia. Common names include Macadamia Nut, Bauple Nut, Queensland Nut or Nut Oak....

, Castanospermum australe, Erythrina

Erythrina

Erythrina is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. It contains about 130 species, which are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. They are trees, growing up to in height...

, Callerya megasperma

Callerya megasperma

Callerya megasperma, also known as native wisteria, is a species of vine in the family Fabaceae native to eastern Australia. It was initially described as Wistaria megasperma by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859 from a specimen collected at the Richmond River...

, Wisteria

Wisteria

Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing vines native to the eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan. Aquarists refer to the species Hygrophila difformis, in the family Acanthaceae, as Water Wisteria...

, Cassia fistula, Alectryon coriaceus

Alectryon coriaceus

Alectryon coriaceus, known as the Beach Bird's Eye, or Beach Alectryon is a rainforest tree of the Soapberry family family found in eastern Australia. The specific epithet coriaceus refers to the leathery thick leaves. Leaflets are 4 to 12 cm long, and 2 to 7 cm wide.A small tree up to 11 metres in...

, Brachychiton acerifolius

Brachychiton acerifolius

Brachychiton acerifolius, commonly known as the Illawarra Flame Tree, is a large tree of the family Malvaceae native to subtropical regions on the east coast of Australia. It is famous for the bright red bell-shaped flowers that often cover the whole tree when it is leafless...

and Cupaniopsis

Cupaniopsis

Cupaniopsis is a genus of about 60 species of shrubs and trees in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. They are native to New Guinea, New Caledonia, Australia and Fiji. In Australia, they are commonly known as tuckeroos. Carrotwood Cupaniopsis is a genus of about 60 species of shrubs and trees in the...

. They are green with a dark dorsal line and diagonal white marks along the sides and a brown head. Pupation takes place in a brown pupa with a length of about 15 mm.