''Thestor dicksoni'', the Dickson's skolly, 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

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 34-37.5 mm for males and 43–45 mm for females. Adults are on wing from December to April. There is one generation per year.

Subspecies

*''Thestor dicksoni dicksoni'' (montane fynbos in the Dasklip Pass near Porterville to the Roodezandsberg near the Tulbagh Kloof) *''Thestor dicksoni malagas'' Dickson & Wykeham, 1994 (along the Atlantic coast and on the

Langebaan Langebaan is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa on the eastern shore of Langebaan Lagoon. Langebaan is situated 120 km north of Cape Town, just off the R27 (Western Cape), R27, about 28 km from Vredenburg and 20 ...

peninsula) *''Thestor dicksoni warreni'' Ball, 1994 (arid strandveld Karoo near Graafwater, between Clanwilliam and Lambertsbaai)

References

Butterflies described in 1954 Thestor Endemic butterflies of South Africa {{Miletinae-stub