''Iolaus aemulus'', the short-barred sapphire, 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 from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to coastal eastern

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. In South Africa it is found along the coast of

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

, then to Ndumu in Zululand. 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 25.5–29.5 mm for males and 26–29 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round but mainly from September to May, with peaks in November and February or March. The larvae feed on ''

Oncocalyx quinquenervius ''Oncocalyx quinquenervius'' (the banded matchflower) is a parasitic plant species in the family Loranthaceae, native to South Africa. Description ''Oncocalyx quinquenervius'' is a hemiparasite. The flowers are tubular, splitting down one sid ...

'' and ''

Oncocalyx bolusii ''Oncocalyx'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Loranthaceae. Its native range is Ethiopia to Southern Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situa ...

''.

References

External links

Images representing ''Iolaus aemulus''
at Barcodes of Life
''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 68
''g'' Butterflies described in 1895 Iolaus (butterfly) Butterflies of Africa {{Theclinae-stub