Eretis umbra

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

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

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 (synonym of Dyschoriste), Justicia and Asystasia (including Asystasia schimperi).

Subspecies
  • Eretis umbra umbra (South Africa: along the coast from the western Cape to the eastern Cape, Eswatini, 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 at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.


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