''Eretis lugens'', commonly known as the savanna elf, is a species of
butterfly
Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
in the family
Hesperiidae
Skippers are a group of butterflies placed in the family Hesperiidae within the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea, but have since been placed in the superfamily Papilion ...
. It is found in Senegal, northern Guinea, northern Sierra Leone, Liberia, northern Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and north-western Zambia.
The habitat consists of Sudan savanna, open Guinea savanna, forest margins, forests and dense woodland.
The larvae feed on ''
Asystasia schimperi'', ''
Asystasia coromandeliana'', ''
Justicia lukepiensis'', ''
Dyschoriste perrotetetti'' and ''
Barleria
''Barleria'' is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae. It includes 303 species native to the tropics and subtropics, including the Americas from Mexico to northern South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, the Indi ...
'' species.
References
Butterflies described in 1891
Celaenorrhinini
Butterflies of Africa
{{Hesperiidae-stub