Tarucus sybaris
Encyclopedia
The Dotted Blue is a butterfly
of the Lycaenidae
family. It is found in southern Africa
.
The wingspan
is 22-26 mm for males and 20-27 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round, with a peak from November to March.
The larvae feed on Ziziphus
species, including Ziziphus zeyheriana and Ziziphus mucronata
.
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 southern Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
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 22-26 mm for males and 20-27 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round, with a peak from November to March.
The larvae feed on Ziziphus
Ziziphus
Ziziphus is a genus of about 40 species of spiny shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, distributed in the warm-temperate and subtropical regions throughout the world. The leaves are alternate, entire, with three prominent basal veins, and long; some species are deciduous,...
species, including Ziziphus zeyheriana and Ziziphus mucronata
Ziziphus mucronata
Ziziphus mucronata, known as the Buffalo Thorn, "blinkblaar-wag-'n-bietjie" in Afrikaans and "mphasamhala" in Tsonga, is a species in the Rhamnaceae family.-Appearance and distribution:...
.
Subspecies
- Tarucus sybaris sybaris (South Africa (East Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, eastern Orange Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo Province and North West Province), Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi)
- Tarucus sybaris linearis (Aurivillius, 1924) (North Cape, western Orange Free State, Namibia, Angola, Botswana)