''Brephidium'' is a genus of

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises t ...

in the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfly ...

. They are known commonly as pygmy blues. The species of this genus have a

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

. Two of the three species are found in the Americas while the third is found in Africa.

Species

The following three species are in the genus ''Brephidium'': *'' Brephidium exilis'' (Boisduval, 1852) – western pygmy blue (southern United States to South America) *''

Brephidium metophis ''Brephidium metophis'', the tinktinkie blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in southern Africa, including South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. In South Africa, it is found from the Western Cape, north to Namaqua ...

'' (Wallengren, 1860) – South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe *''

Brephidium pseudofea ''Brephidium pseudofea'', the eastern pygmy-blue, is a species of blue in the butterfly family Lycaenidae. It is found in the southern United States, typically in coastal saltmarshes A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt ma ...

'' (Morrison, 1873) – eastern pygmy blue (southeastern United States)

References

* Lycaenidae genera {{Polyommatini-stub