Iolaus iulus

Iolaus iulus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Pancrustacea
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Iolaus
Species:	I. iulus
Binomial name
Iolaus iulus Hewitson, 1869 [1]
Synonyms
Iolaus (Iolaphilus) iulus Iolaus aelianusStaudinger, 1891 Jolaus matildaSuffert, 1904 Argiolaus jamesoni entebbeaeRiley, 1928

Iolaus iulus, the Iulus sapphire, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Senegal (Basse Casamance), Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, southern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Zambia. The habitat consists of forests and cleared lands.

Adults have been recorded feeding from flowers. During the dry season, both sexes mud-puddle.

The larvae feed on the flowers of Loranthus incanus , Globimetula braunii , Globimetula mweroensis , Tapinanthus erianthus and Englerina woodfordioides . They are associated with the ant species Crematogaster buchneri . The larvae are predominantly ruby and green in colour.

Torben Larsen developed a species numbering system for his 2005 publication Butterflies of West Africa. This species is #397. ^[2] The 'Larsen' numbers have since been used with permission in A Sharp Eye on Butterflies of Ghana. ^[3]

References

1. Iolaus at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
2. Larsen, Torben B. (2005). Butterflies of West Africa. Stenstrup, Denmark: Apollo Books. ISBN   978-87-88757-43-9.
3. Sharp, Charles J.; Sáfián, Sz. (2026). A Sharp Eye on Butterflies of Ghana. Oxford: Sharp Eye Publications and Hungarian Natural Heritage Trust. p. 55. ISBN   978-615-02-5911-6.

External links

• Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 67 d