''Paralethe'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

butterfly genus in the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species ha ...

. Its one species - ''Paralethe dendrophilus -'' the "bush beauty" or "forest pride" is found in

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 ...

. 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 45–60 mm for males and 48–70 mm for females. Adults are on wing from late December to May. There is one generation per year. The larvae feed on various

Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...

species, including ''

Ehrharta erecta ''Ehrharta erecta'' is a species of grass commonly known as panic veldtgrass. The species is native to Southern Africa and Yemen. It is a documented invasive species in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, southern Europe and China. The ...

'' and '' Panicum deustrum''.

Subspecies

*''Paralethe dendrophilus dendrophilus'' (eastern Cape) *''Paralethe dendrophilus albina'' van Son, 1955 (eastern Cape (Pondoland), Natal) *''Paralethe dendrophilus indosa'' (Trimen, 1879) (coast of KwaZulu-Natal and Zululand) *''Paralethe dendrophilus junodi'' (van Son, 1935) (Transvaal)

References

Monotypic butterfly genera Butterflies of Africa Dirini {{Satyrinae-stub