''Chrysoritis pan'', the Pan opal, is a species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

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 butterfl ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, where it is found in the Western Cape, the Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 20–28 mm for males and 22–32 mm for females. Adults are on wing from August to May, with peaks from October to November and from February to March. The larvae feed on ''

Osteospermum ''Osteospermum'' , is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Calenduleae, one of the smaller tribes of the sunflower/daisy family Asteraceae. They are known as the daisybushes or African daisies. ''Osteospermum'' used to belong to the genu ...

'' species, ''

Chrysanthemoides incana ''Chrysanthemoides'' is one of eight genera of the Calenduleae, with a centre of diversity in South Africa. The genus contains only two species, but is known for the invasive "Bitou Bush" '' Chrysanthemoides monilifera''. Studies of this genus h ...

'' and '' Zygophyllum retrofractum''. They are attended to by '' Crematogaster liengmei'' ants.

Subspecies

*''Chrysoritis pan pan'' (South Africa: Western Cape) *''Chrysoritis pan lysander'' (Pennington, 1962) (South Africa: Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape) *'' Chrysoritis pan henningi'' (Bampton, 1981) (South Africa: Western Cape)

References

* Butterflies described in 1962 Chrysoritis Endemic butterflies of South Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Aphnaeini-stub