Hemiolaus caeculus

Azure hairstreak
Summer form of the nominate subsp. in Mpumalanga, South Africa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Hemiolaus
Species:	H. caeculus
Binomial name
Hemiolaus caeculus (Hopffer, 1855) [1]
Synonyms
Hypolycaena caeculus(Hopffer, 1855) Iolaus caeculusHopffer, 1855 Hypolycaena doloresSuffert, 1904 Hypolycaena caeculus obscurusSuffert, 1904 Hypolycaena caeculus ab. dupontiDufrane, 1953 Iolaus caeculus tsodiloensisPinhey, 1969

Hemiolaus caeculus, the azure hairstreak, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in East and southern Africa.

The wingspan is 30–35 mm for males and 34–38 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round with peaks after rains. ^[2]

The larvae feed on Olax species, including Olax dissitiflora and Olax obtusifolia .

Subspecies

In Seitz (1910)

• Hemiolaus caeculus caeculus — Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Transvaal, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, eastern Zambia, south-eastern Tanzania
• Hemiolaus caeculus littoralisStempffer, 1954 — coast of eastern Kenya and eastern Tanzania, Usambara Mountains
• Hemiolaus caeculus vividusPinhey, 1962 — western Zambia, south-western Tanzania, southern Zaire (south-eastern Shaba)
• Hemiolaus caeculus tsodiloensis(Pinhey, 1969) — northern Botswana

References

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

External links

• Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 67 b also (synonym) as dolores Suffert, 1904