Mimeresia libentina

Mimeresia libentina
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Pancrustacea
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Mimeresia
Species:	M. libentina
Binomial name
Mimeresia libentina (Hewitson, 1866) [1]
Synonyms
Liptena libentinaHewitson, 1866 Liptena libentina var. zeritaPlötz, 1880 Liptena rubricaDruce, 1888 Pseuderesia zoraidaGrose-Smith and Kirby, 1890 Pseuderesia libentina var. isabellaeSchultze, 1917

Mimeresia libentina, the common harlequin, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.</ref> Its natural habitat is forests.

Adults feed on nectar from extrafloral nectaries.

Subspecies

• Mimeresia libentina libentina (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, southern Nigeria)
• Mimeresia libentina isabellae(Schultze, 1917) (Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea: Bioko and Rio Muni, Gabon)

Torben Larsen developed a species numbering system for his 2005 publication Butterflies of West Africa. The nominate subspecies is #184. ^[2] The 'Larsen' numbers have since been used with permission in A Sharp Eye on Butterflies of Ghana. ^[3]

References

1. Mimeresia 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. 41. ISBN   978-615-02-5911-6.