Pests > Pests Entities > Insects > Moths & butterflies > Lycaenidae (?Lampides sp.) cowpea, Tonga

July 2010. While monitoring a recent invasive on the island of Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga, lepidopteran larvae were found feeding on pods and flowers of cowpea, Macroptilium lathyroides.

It was identified as a larva in the family Lycaenidae. Lampides boeticus feeds on Fabaceae, and is found throughout the Pacific. It maybe this, but it needs to be reared to adult for a proper identification.