''Iolaus alienus'', the brown-line 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 in most of

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

. 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 33–37 mm for males and 35–40 mm for females. Adults are on wing from August to November (with a peak in September) and sometimes again from April to May in South Africa. There are two generations per year. Larvae have been reported on ''

Loranthus ''Loranthus'' is a genus of parasitic plants that grow on the branches of woody trees. It belongs to the family Loranthaceae, the showy mistletoe family. In most earlier systematic treatments it contains all mistletoe species with bisexual flower ...

'' species. The larvae of subspecies ''I. a. alienus'' feed on '' Tapinanthus brunneus'', '' Tapinanthus subulatus'', '' Oliverella rubroviridis'' and '' Helixanthera kirkii''.

Subspecies

*''Iolaus alienus alienus'' (from KwaZulu-Natal and Transvaal to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, southern Tanzania) *''Iolaus alienus bicaudatus'' Aurivillius, 1905 (northern Cameroon, northern Nigeria, Upper Volta) *''Iolaus alienus ugandae'' Stempffer, 1953 (Kenya, Uganda, southern Sudan) *''Iolaus alienus sophiae'' Henning & Henning, 1991

References

External links

Images representing ''Iolaus alienus''
at Barcodes of Life
''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 69
''b'' and ''c'' as ''bicaudatus'' Aurivillius, 1905 (synonym). Butterflies described in 1898 Iolaus (butterfly) Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Roland Trimen {{Theclinae-stub