Poecilmitis pyramus
Encyclopedia
Pyramus Opal 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...

 in 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 endemic to 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...

, where it is found on the northern slopes of the Swartberg, the Kammanassie Mountains and the Langeberg in the West Cape.

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 32-36 mm for males and 32-38 mm for females. Adults are on wing from October to January, with a peak in November. There is one extended generation per year.

The larvae feed on Thesium
Thesium
Thesium is a genus of plants in the family Santalaceae. It contains about 325 species distributed on all Old World continents, but is most diverse in South Africa....

, Osteospermum asperulum and Dimorphotheca montana. They are attended to by Crematogaster peringueyi ants.
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