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Lepidochrysops kitale

(Kitale Giant Cupid)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Kitale Giant Cupid

Description

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Family Lycaenidae

'The Lycaenidae are members of the Superfamily Papilionoidea, the true butterflies. Worldwide in distribution, this family has approximately 4,700 species that are unevenly distributed. Coppers are especially dominant in north temperate regions , blues are richest in the Old World tropics and north temperate zones, and hairstreaks are particularly abundant in New World tropics. The adults are typically small to tiny and often brilliantly colored--iridescent blues, bright reds, and oranges. Adults of both sexes have three pairs of walking legs , though most males have fused segments in their front legs. Most adults visit flowers for nectar, but some harvesters feed on wooly aphid honeydew and some hairstreaks feed on aphid honeydew or bird droppings. Females lay single, sea urchin shaped eggs on host leaves or flower buds; the resulting caterpillars are typically slug-shaped. In many species, caterpillars depend on ants for protection, so caterpillars produce sugary secretions that are collected by the ants. Most species overwinter in either the egg or pupal stage.

'[1]

Subfamily Polyommatinae

Blues are tiny to small butterflies of the Family Lycaenidae. Distributed worldwide, they are most diverse in Southeast Asia, tropical Africa, and northern temperate regions . Most of the nearly 50 North American species are found in the west. Adult males are predominantly blue above, due to reflected light rather than pigmentation . Some males and most females are largely brown above. Below, wings of both sexes are usually gray-white with black spots or streaks. Adults in some genera (Euphilotes, Lycaeides, Plebulina, and Icaricia) have more or less prominent orange submarginal bands on their hindwings . Most adults are found near their host plants , and they do not fly long distances , though some tropical and subtropical species undertake long migrations. Adults visit flowers for nectar. Males frequent moist sand and mud , and females lay eggs singly on host plant leaves or flowers. As caterpillars, they secrete sugary secretions that attract ants , and caterpillars of some species are raised in ant nests. Blues usually overwinter in the pupal stage.[2]

Habitat

Biome: Terrestrial [3].

Ecology: The genus Lepidochrysops has a remarkable life history , the larvae feed on plants for the first two instars, then induce ants to carry them to their nests where they feed on the ant brood, pupating in the tunnels of the ant nest (Henning and Henning 1989). This species inhabits not-too-open savannah country.[3].

List of Habitats :

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Neochrysops kitale

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

 

This taxon is usually considered a subspecies of Lepidochrysops cinerea (Bethune-Baker 1923). However it was raised it to species rank since there are slight differences in the form of the valves and the two taxa are strongly disjunt.

[3].

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Lepidochrysops

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 7 species and subspecies in this genus:

L. bacchus (Wineland Blue) · L. badhami (Badham's Blue) · L. barnesi (Barnes' Blue) · L. kitale (Kitale Giant Cupid) · L. lerothodi (Lesotho Blue) · L. penningtoni (Penningtons Blue) · L. quickelbergei (Quickelberges Blue)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxonomy?f=16&sci=Lycaenidae&com=Gossamer-wing Butterflies [back]
  2. http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Plebulina&search=Search [back]
  3. Larsen, T.B. 2011. Lepidochrysops kitale. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 01 February 2012. [back]
Last Revised: 7/22/2012