Metisella metis
Gold spotted sylph | |
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Female, Cape Town | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Hesperiidae |
Genus: | Metisella |
Species: | M. metis
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Binomial name | |
Metisella metis | |
Synonyms | |
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Metisella metis, the gold spotted sylph, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in the Cape and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
The wingspan is 26–34 mm for males and 30–33 mm for females.[2] The upperside of the wings are dark brown or black with a number of gold spots.[2] The flight period is year-round, peaking between September and November and between February and March.[2]
The larvae feed on , , Ehrharta erecta and .
Subspecies[]
- Metisella metis metis (South Africa: Western Cape Province, from the Cape Peninsula, east to the Swellendam district)
- Metisella metis paris Evans, 1937 (Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, South Africa: Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape Province, Western Cape Province)
References[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Metisella metis. |
Categories:
- Butterflies described in 1764
- Heteropterinae
- Butterflies of Africa
- Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
- Hesperiidae stubs