Eretis umbra

Eretis umbra
Eretis umbra figure 16
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Eretis
Species:	E. umbra
Binomial name
Eretis umbra (Trimen, 1862)[1]
Synonyms
Nisoniades umbra Trimen, 1862 Nisoniades norica Plötz, 1884 Eretis djaelaelae var. maculifera Mabille & Boullet, 1916 Eretis djaelaelae f. punctigera Mabille and Boullet, 1916 Sarangesa nox Neave, 1910

Eretis umbra, the small marbled elf, is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It is found from South Africa to eastern Africa and Uganda. Similar to Eretis djaelaelae but lacks white forelegs.

The wingspan is 30–32 mm for males and 32–37 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round in warmer areas and from August to May in cooler areas.^[2]

The larvae feed on Chaetacanthus setiger, Phaulopsis, Dyschoriste, Chaetacanthus, Justicia and Asystasia (including Asystasia schimperi).

Subspecies

• Eretis umbra umbra (Swaziland, South Africa: along the coast from the western Cape to the eastern Cape, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, the Orange Free State, Limpopo, the North-West Provinces, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the eastern part of the northern Cape)
• Eretis umbra maculifera Mabille & Boullet, 1916 (north-eastern Uganda, central and western Kenya, Tanzania)
• Eretis umbra nox (Neave, 1910) (Malawi, southern and eastern Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe)

References

1. Eretis, Site of Markku Savela
2. Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2005.