''Tsitana dicksoni'', the Dickson's sylph, 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

Hesperiidae Skippers are a group of butterflies placed in the family Hesperiidae within the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea, but have since been placed in the superfamily Papilion ...

. 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 ...

where it is only known from the Franschhoek Pass and Klein Drakenstein Mountains in the Western Cape and Garcia's and Robinson Pass. The habitat consists of grassy spots in montane

fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

vegetation.Afrotropical Butterflies: Hesperiidae - Subfamily Heteropterinae
/ref> 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 35–37 mm for males and 40–42 mm for females. Adults are on wing from November to December. There is one generation per year. The larvae possibly feed on ''

Pseudopentameris macrantha ''Pseudopentameris'' is a genus of South African plants in the grass family, found only in Western Cape Province The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth l ...

''.

References

Butterflies described in 1955 Heteropterinae Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by William Harry Evans {{Hesperiidae-stub