De rerum: an acknowlegement and explanation.
INDEX: Linnaean

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Spialia sp.


One of the Sandmen. I have come across this butterfly occasionally. It is small, shy, and I suspect often overlooked. There are 14 spp. recorded in South Africa and they are all very similar. I'm not sure which this is, perhaps S. spio?
It introduces the (sub)family Pyrginae of the Hesperiidae. The genus Spialia was created by Swinhoe 1912, TS Hesperia galba Fabricius 1793, but S. spio first described by Linnaeus himself (1764).
Foodplants are mainly from the Malvaceae, including our indigenous Hermannia, and Hibiscus.

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