Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Lycaenidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Anthene | |
 | ||
Similar Anthene larydas, Anthene amarah, Pentila pauli, Anthene definita, Eicochrysops hippocrates | ||
Anthene lunulata, the lunulated hairtail and red-spot ciliate blue, is a butterfly in the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Uele, Ituri, Equateur, Sankuru, Lualaba and Shaba), Angola, Zambia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and north-eastern Botswana. The habitat consists of savanna and forests.
Adults of both sexes are attracted to flowers, including those of Tridax species. Adult males mud-puddle. Adults have been recorded on wing from October to May and in August.
The larvae feed on the young shoots and the outer cortex of the young leaves of Combretum, Acacia, Albizia and Berlinia species, as well as Brachystegia boehmii, Brachystegia spiciformis, Entada abyssinica, Isoberlinea angolensis, Julbernardia globiflora and Parkia filicoides. They are associated with ants of the Pheidole genus, as well as Camponotus acvapimensis and Technomyrmes detorquens. The larvae are yellow green with a darker dorsal line which is sometimes reddish with a mottled appearance due to much yellow striation.