Aphnaeus orcas

Aphnaeus orcas, the common highflier or common silver spot, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria (south and the Cross River loop), Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Mongala, Uele, Tshopo, Tshuapa, Equateur, Sankuru and Lualaba), Uganda, western and south-western Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.[2] The habitat consists of forests.

Aphnaeus orcas
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Lycaenidae
Genus:
Aphnaeus
Species:
A. orcas
Binomial name
Aphnaeus orcas
(Drury, 1782)[1]
Synonyms
  • Papilio orcas Drury, 1782
  • Aphnaeus guttatus Plötz, 1880
  • Aphnaeus hollandi Butler, 1902
  • Aphnaeus rattrayi Sharpe, 1904
  • Aphnaeus orcas var. heliodorus Schultze, 1916
  • Aphnaeus orcas f. overlaeti Berger, 1953
  • Aphnaeus orcas f. fontainei Berger, 1953
  • Aphnaeus orcas f. paupera Stempffer, 1954

Both sexes feed from flowers and males mud-puddle.

The larvae feed on Alchornea cordifolia, Albizia, Allophylus, Blighia, Loranthus, Macaranga, Olea, Paullinia, Rhus, Scolopia, Scutia and Uncaria species. They are attended by ants of the family Formicidae.

References
  1. Aphnaeus at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. "Afrotropical Butterflies: Lycaenidae - Tribe Aphnaeini (part 4)". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-07-05.


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