The Water Opal 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 in 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...

.

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 21-29 mm for males and 25-31 mm for females. Adults of ssp. palmus are on year from September to April, with a peak in December. The peak for ssp. margueritae is January to March. There are several generations per year.

The larvae feed on Aspalathus sarcantha, Aspalathus carnosa, Chrysanthemoides monilifera

Chrysanthemoides monilifera

Chrysanthemoides monilifera...

, Berzelia intermedia, Berzelia lanuginosa and Berzelia abrotanoides. They are attended to by Crematogaster peringueyi ants.

Subspecies

• Chrysoritis palmus palmus (West Cape)
• Chrysoritis palmus margueritae (Dickson, 1982) (West Cape to East Cape)