De rerum: an acknowlegement and explanation.
INDEX: Linnaean

Friday, May 16, 2014

Chrysoritis lycegenes





At least I think so: the Mooi River Opal.
Mandy and I found this butterfly at Kamberg. It is an elderly individual, hanging on for dear life to an Aster (bakerianus.)
Kamberg is a delightful nature reserve in the foothills of the Drakensburg, and is only 60 kilometers as the crow flies from the town that is the butterflies namesake: Mooi River.
Steve Woodhall lists 42 Chrysoritis spp. in South Africa, most of them looking very similar, and many confined to small endemic areas, as this one is. It is my only record.

Foodplants are abundant here: Diospros spp. Rhus spp. and Myrsine etc.



Above two photographs of Protea Savanah in typical setting of Kamberg.
 

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