Anthene butleri

Anthene butleri, the pale hairtail or Butler's ciliate blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found from South Africa to Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia. In South Africa it is found in coastal lowland forest in KwaZulu-Natal, from the coast to Kosi Bay, inland across the Makathini Flats.

Pale hairtail
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Anthene
Species:
A. butleri
Binomial name
Anthene butleri
(Oberthür, 1880)[1]
Synonyms
  • Lycaena (Lampides) butleri Oberthür, 1880
  • Lycaenesthes livida Trimen, 1881
  • Anthene livida galla Stempffer, 1947
  • Anthene livida stempfferi Storace, 1954

The wingspan 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.[2]

The larvae feed on Kalanchoe crenata, Kalanchoe lugardii and Cotyledon species, including Cotyledon orbiculata .

Subspecies
  • A. b. butleri (Ethiopia, southern Sudan, northern Uganda, north-west Kenya)
  • A. b. arabicus Gabriel, 1954 (Yemen)
  • A. b. galla Stempffer, 1947 (northern Kenya, southern Ethiopia)
  • A. b. livida (Trimen, 1881) (Cape, Orange Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Transvaal, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Tanzania)
  • A. b. stempfferi Storace, 1954 (Kenya: central to the Teita Hills, Tanzania)

References
  1. Anthene at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.


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