Spialia diomus

Spialia diomus
Spialia diomus, female, figure 6
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Genus:	Spialia
Species:	S. diomus
Binomial name
Spialia diomus (Höpffer, 1855)[1]
Synonyms
Pyrgus diomus Hopffer, 1855 Syrichtus diomus Syrichtus ferax Wallengren, 1863 Pyrgus machacoana Butler, 1899 Pyrgus abscondita Plötz, 1884 Syrichthus lacreuzei Oberthür, 1912

Spialia diomus, the common sandman or Diomus grizzled skipper, is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It is found in tropical Africa and south-western Arabia.

The wingspan is 27–31 mm for males and 29–33 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round in warmer areas. In South Africa it is more common in warmer months. In cooler areas adults are on wing from August to April.^[2]

The larvae feed on Hibiscus (including Hibiscus aethiopicus), Sida, Pavonia (including Pavonia burchellii), Waltheria and Hermannia species (including Hermannia diffusa, Hermannia incana, Hermannia comosa, Hermannia depressa and Hermannia cuneifolia).

Subspecies

• Spialia diomus diomus (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Yemen)
• Spialia diomus ferax (Wallengren, 1863) (Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho)

References

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