Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Lycaenidae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Cigaritis | |
Similar Cigaritis natalensis, Cigaritis mozambica, Aphnaeini, Spindasis, Theclinae | ||
Cigaritis avriko, the fine silverline, is a butterfly in the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Guinea (the Nimba Range), Sierra Leone (the Loma Mountains), southern Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, western Kenya and Ethiopia. The habitat consists of savanna.
The larvae are tended by ants of the Pheidole genus, which transport them into galls on Vachellia drepanolobium in which they live. The larvae seem to feed on both ant secretions and on the lining of the galls.
References
Cigaritis avriko Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA