Paralethe dendrophilus

The Bush Beauty or Forest Beauty, another of the Satyrinae. In season I would always be ensured of finding it at Ferncliffe NR, sunning itself in the dappled shade. I have only one other locality record, here in our garden. They can be quite confiding, I remember one once settling on my jeans while I was sitting in the sun.
This butterfly is endemic to South Africa (and Swaziland). It is also monotypic; genus Paralethe van Son, 1955, the type species from Satyrus dendrophilus Trimen, 1862 is the only sp. There are four sspp.; from the large all white forewing patches the top picture is probably ssp. junodi.
The bottom picture is of the undersides of two which, having chased off a Common Bush Brown were sharing plant sap with a chafer beetle.
As with most of other Browns, its food plants are certain grasses.
As to the beetle, I can only quote JBS Haldane's apocryphal reply to a theologian that the Creator "has an inordinate fondness for beetles".

    

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.

Precis archesia

The Garden Inspector (or Garden Commodore.) At the top, a Wet Season Form, incidentally feeding on a Ruellia flower. This WSF is less commonly seen than the DSF and is very shy.
Below is the Dry Season Form, so different from the previous that it could be mistaken for another species. It is far more commonly seen, and far more confiding than the previous form. Not infrequently during the winter months, they would settle inside the house and almost become a household pet. The ivy on our front wall was a favourite resting place, and I remember following one individual over a period of almost three months.
The butterfly was first decribed as Papilio archesia Cramer, 1779.
Food plants include Plectranthus spp. I have seen this butterfly oviposit on P. neochilus. At bottom is a picture of P. fruticosus that self-seeded itself throughout our garden to produce a wonderful show of flowers during the Autumn months.
 

Zizula hylax

The Tiny (or Gaika) Grass Blue. Zizula: another genus established by Chapman 1910, and the species originally Papilio hylax Fabricius 1775. It is widespread throughout Africa, across Southern Asia and into Australia. Here I have found it fairly frequently at the margin of the wooded areas in Bisley NR, and also have a single record from Cumberland.
In comparison with the previous two butterflies, the wings are more slender, and the (sub)marginal markings more linear. Also, at least here, the forewing underside discal spot closest to the apex is kidney-shaped.
Food plants are mainly from the Acanthus family: Ruellia, Chaetacanthus, Phaulopsis, Justica; and our infamous Oxalis corniculata. In the next post I have put in a butterfly on a Ruellia flower (I think.)

Zizina antanossa

The Dark Grass (or Clover) Blue. Told from the previous posting by the arrangement of the discal spots on the underside of the hind wing: the second spot (from anterior) is angled inwards. It is also a slightly  larger butterfly.
It is not common here, I have only two records, one at Cumberland, and the other in the KZN-NBG. Food plants include Indigofera and Desmodium: the latter well known for its seeds sticking to your clothing!
The genus again by Chapman 1910, the species originally Lycaena antanossa Mabille, 1877
PS Now revised Zizina otis anatanossa.

Zizeeria knysna

The African Grass (or Sooty) Blue, with wings no bigger than a finger-nail.. As Steve Woodhall mentions this must be one of our most common garden butterflies because of the frequency of the invasive Oxalis corniculata, one of its foodplants, in our gardens. The male has a striking iridescent blue upper side compared with the female's bronze sheen with just some basal blue. Characteristically, they will flutter low over the lawn, settle, then slowly open their wings to warm up in the sun.
The genus Zizeeria Chapman 1910. The species from  Lycaena knysna Trimen 1862. It has a wide distribution over Africa into Spain where it overlaps with the only other species of the genus Z. kasandra that extends east over to Australia.
Incidentally, sp. knysna is named after the river and town on the Garden Route, aptly called after the Khoikhoi word meaning "ferns," (source Wiki.)

Here is a picture of Oxalis corniculata:
 

The three "Z's"

Zizeeria, Zizina, and Zizula: similar sounding genera of similar butterflies from the same Polyommatini section of Lycaenidae.
So here with the first.
Perhaps I should also have included Actizera lucuda