''Chrysoritis swanepoeli'', the Swanepoel's opal, is a species of

butterfly 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 els ...

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 count ...

, where it is found in the

Swartberg Pass The Swartberg Pass on the R328 runs over the Swartberg mountain range (''black mountain'' in English) which runs roughly east–west along the northern edge of the semi-arid area called the Little Karoo in the Western Cape province of South A ...

and Schoemanskloof, the Groot Swartberg, the Huis River Pass and

Gamkaskloof The Gamkaskloof , also known as ''Die Hel'', is a narrow, isolated valley about 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) long and a maximum of 600 metres (656 yards) wide. The valley is located in the Swartberg mountain range, which is part of the Garden Rout ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

. 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 ...

is 23–26 mm for males and 24–34 mm for females. Adults are on wing from October to January. There is one extended generation per year. The larvae feed on '' Thesium'' species and '' Tylecodon paniculata''. They are attended to by ''

Crematogaster ''Crematogaster'' is an ecologically diverse genus of ants found worldwide, which are characterised by a distinctive heart-shaped gaster (abdomen), which gives them one of their common names, the Saint Valentine ant. Members of this genus are ...

liengmei'' ants.

Subspecies

The subspecies ''Chrysoritis swanepoeli hyperion'' was formerly considered a species, ''Chrysoritis hyperion''. Research in 2023 showed subspecies ''swanepoeli'' and ''hyperion'' to be indistinguishable in one genetic sequence, suggesting more research is required to determine the validity of subspecies status. *''Chrysoritis swanepoeli swanepoeli'' (South Africa: Western Cape) *''Chrysoritis swanepoeli hyperion'' (Dickson, 1975) (South Africa: Western Cape)

References

* Chrysoritis Butterflies described in 1965 Endemic butterflies of South Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{Aphnaeini-stub