While staying with Glenda and Graeme in Plettenburg Bay we found these Cape Autumn Widows while walking in Brakenridge; sure enough it was Autumn. It was quite common there but, being an endemic from our Southern Cape, it was my first. The Widows all look much the same. The top two are of the same butterfly, the bottom of another.
Foodplants are various grasses.
There are only four spp. in the genus and all from South Africa.
The plant that the top butterfly is nectaring off is Whahlenbergia procumbens, and like the butterfly is also a Southern Cape endemic. The plant is said to be a nuisance in lawns, as shown, but a very attractive one.
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