''Hypolycaena buxtoni'', the Buxton's hairstreak, is a

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 ...

of the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), 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 ...

. It is found in southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. The

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

is 25–30 mm for males and 28–33 mm for females. Adults are on wing from September to May (with a peak in October and November) and from February to May (with a peak in March and April). There are two generations per year. The larvae feed on ''

Tricalysia ''Tricalysia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is found in tropical and southern Africa and on the islands in the Western Indian Ocean. Species * ''Tricalysia achoundongiana'' Robbr., Sonké & Kenfack * '' T ...

'' and ''

Pavetta ''Pavetta'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It comprises about 360 species of trees, evergreen shrubs and sub-shrubs. It is found in woodlands, grasslands and thickets in sub-tropical and tropical Africa and Asia. The plan ...

'' species and possibly '' Tarenna pavettoides''.

Subspecies

*''Hypolycaena buxtoni buxtoni'' (Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Zimbabwe, Malawi) *''Hypolycaena buxtoni rogersi'' Bethune-Baker, 1924 (the coast of eastern Kenya and eastern Tanzania) *''Hypolycaena buxtoni spurcus'' Talbot, 1929 (Zambia, southern Zaire (Shaba), south-western Tanzania)

References

External links

''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 67
''b'' Butterflies described in 1874 Hypolycaenini Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by William Chapman Hewitson {{Theclinae-stub