Metisella aegipan

Mountain sylph
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Clade:Euarthropoda
Class:Insecta
Order:Lepidoptera
Family:Hesperiidae
Genus:Metisella
Species: M. aegipan
Binomial name
Metisella aegipan
(Trimen, 1868)[1]
Synonyms
  • Cyclopides aegipan Trimen, 1868

Metisella aegipan, the mountain sylph or Shaka's ranger, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in the mountains of the Cape in South Africa and in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho. The habitat consists of wetlands, marshy places, and grassy gullies in montane grassland.[2]

The wingspan is 28–34 mm for males and 28–36 mm for females.[3]

These small to medium-sized skippers are brown on the upperside and yellow brown on the underside. They have a yellow patch on the upperside forewing.[3]

Their flight period is between December and February with a single brood.[3]

Subspecies

  • Metisella aegipan aegipan (South Africa, Lesotho)
  • Metisella aegipan inyanga Evans, 1955 (Zimbabwe, Mozambique)

References

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


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.