Anthene crawshayi

Anthene crawshayi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Anthene
Species:	A. crawshayi
Binomial name
Anthene crawshayi (Butler, 1899)[1]
Synonyms
Lycaenesthes crawshayi Butler, 1899 Anthene (Anthene) crawshayi Lycaenesthes crawshayi ab. parallela Aurivillius, 1923 Lycaenesthes crawshayi marginata Hulstaert, 1924 Lycaenesthes crawshayi var. minuta Bethune-Baker, 1916 Lycaenesthes crawshayi f. albilunata Ungemach, 1932 Lycaenesthes sobrina Talbot, 1935

Anthene crawshayi, the Crawshay's hairtail or Crawshay's ciliate blue, is a butterfly in the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.^[2] The habitat consists of savanna and open forests.

Adult males mud-puddle and both sexes are attracted to the flowers of Acacia trees. Adults are on wing year round.

The larvae feed on the young terminal shoots of Acacia abyssinica, Acacia polycantha campylacantha, Cassia alata and Entada abyssinica. They are green with a dark dorsal line and with dark diagonal lateral stripes.

Subspecies

• Anthene crawshayi crawshayi (Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria: south and the Cross River loop, Cameroon, Uganda, western Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, north-eastern Zimbabwe, South Africa: Limpopo Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Uele, Ituri, Kinshasa, Sankuru, Lualaba, Lomani, Shaba, Maniema and Kivu)
• Anthene crawshayi minuta (Bethune-Baker, 1916) (Sudan, Ethiopia, northern Uganda, Somalia, east and northern Kenya)

References

1. Anthene at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
2. Afrotropical Butterflies: Lycaenidae - Tribe Lycaenesthini