Andronymus caesar

Andronymus caesar
g
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Andronymus
Species:	A. caesar
Binomial name
Andronymus caesar (Fabricius, 1793) [1]
Synonyms
Hesperia caesarFabricius, 1793 Pamphila philanderHopffer, 1855 Andronymus hero philander Apaustus leanderPlötz, 1879 Andronymus antoniusLindsey and Miller, 1965

Andronymus caesar, the white dart or common dart, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in tropical Africa. The habitat consists of forests, moist savannah and riverine bush, from sea level to altitudes of 1,500 metres. ^[2]

The wingspan is 38–44 mm. Adults are on wing year-round, but mainly from November to April in South Africa. ^[3]

The larvae feed on Macrolobium , Blighia (including Blighia unijugata ), Deinbollia and Phialodiscus species.

Subspecies

• Andronymus caesar caesar (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo: except east and south)
• Andronymus caesar philander(Hopffer, 1855) (Democratic Republic of the Congo: east and south to Shaba, southern Sudan, Uganda, eastern Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa: Limpopo Province to Pafuri, Mpumalanga and the Blyde River Canyon)

References

1. Andronymus at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
2. Afrotropical Butterflies: Hesperiidae - Subfamily Hesperiinae
3. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN   978-1-86872-724-7.