Myrina dermaptera
species of insect
Myrina dermaptera, the lesser fig-tree blue or scarce fig-tree blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa, southern Arabia and northern Oman.
Description
The wingspan is 26–32 mm for males and 30–38 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round with strong peaks in November and from April to June.
Habitat and behavior
The males are highly territorial, and patrol their chosen spots around fig trees. They are noted to perform in an unusual hovering and spiraling aerial display, which seems as a form of threat or dominance.
The larvae feed on Ficus species, including F. sur, F. thonningii and F. natalensis.
Subspecies
Myrina dermaptera dermaptera (Eastern Cape to KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga and Limpopo, southern Mozambique)
Myrina dermaptera nyassae Talbot, 1935 (Zimbabwe, Malawi, eastern Tanzania to Kenya (Nairobi))
References
External links
Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter.
“Myrina dermaptera” enters the record as species of insect. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Myrina, dermaptera and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Myrina dermaptera” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Myrina, dermaptera and species provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q6948240. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1935.
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This entry incorporates text from “Myrina dermaptera” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.