The Pale Hairtail or Butler's Ciliate Blue (Anthene butleri) is a 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 from South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 to Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

, and Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. In South Africa it is found in coastal lowland forest in KwaZulu-Natal, from the coast to Kosi Bay, inland across the Makathini Flats.

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 23-28 mm for males and 25-32 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round, with a peak in the warmer months.

The larvae feed on Kalanchoe crenata, Kalanchoe lugardii and Cotyledon

Cotyledon

A cotyledon , is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant. Upon germination, the cotyledon may become the embryonic first leaves of a seedling. The number of cotyledons present is one characteristic used by botanists to classify the flowering plants...

species, including Cotyledon orbiculata

Cotyledon orbiculata

Cotyledon orbiculata, commonly known as Pig's Ear or Round-leafed Navel-wort, is a succulent plant belonging to the Cotyledon genus.-Description:...

.

Subspecies

• Anthene butleri butleri (Ethiopia, southern Sudan, northern Uganda, north-west Kenya)
• Anthene butleri arabicus Gabriel, 1954 (south-western Arabia)
• Anthene butleri galla Stempffer, 1947 (northern Kenya)
• Anthene butleri livida (Trimen, 1881) (Cape, Orange Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Transvaal, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania)
• Anthene butleri stempfferi Storace, 1954 (Kenya)