Iolaus crawshayi

Updated on Dec 13, 2023

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Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Lycaenidae Rank Species		Phylum Arthropoda Order Lepidoptera Genus Iolaus
Similar Iolaus mimosae, Iolaus glaucus, Iolaus pallene, Iolaus iasis

Iolaus crawshayi, the Crawshay's sapphire, is a butterfly in the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. The habitat consists of moist savanna.

The larvae feed on the young leaves of Erianthemum dregei and Phragmanthera usuiensis. They are dull dirty whitish green or brown.

Subspecies

I. c. crawshayi (Kenya: highlands east of the Rift Valley)

I. c. elgonae (Stempffer & Bennett, 1958) (Kenya, Uganda)

I. c. littoralis (Stempffer & Bennett, 1958) (Tanzania: east and inland to Moshi and Korogwe and south to Lindi, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Shaba, Kenya: eastern lowlands and inland to Makindu, the Kitui district and Mount Marsabit)

I. c. maureli Dufrane, 1954 (Ethiopia, southern Somalia, north-eastern Kenya)

I. c. niloticus (Stempffer & Bennett, 1958) (Uganda: West Nile district)

I. c. nyanzae (Stempffer & Bennett, 1958) (Kenya: western highlands, Uganda: Jinja)

References

Iolaus crawshayi Wikipedia

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