Bowker’s Blue 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...

, from the North Cape, south to fynbos in the West Cape and east to the Amatolas in the East 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 23-27 mm for males and 26-29 mm for females. Adults are on wing from October to March, but is most common in early summer and sometimes also on wing in winter. There are multiple generations per year.

The larvae feed on Phylica paniculata.

Subspecies

• Tarucus bowkeri bowkeri (from East Cape along escarpment to KwaZulu-Natal and along the Drakensberg foothills)
• Tarucus bowkeri transvaalensis Quickelberge, 1972 (from Mpumalanga and the Limpopo Province along the Drakensberg escarpment)