Aphnaeus orcas

Aphnaeus orcas

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Aphnaeus
Species:	A. orcas
Binomial name
*Aphnaeus orcas* (Drury, 1782)^[1]
Synonyms
Papilio orcas Drury, 1782 Aphnaeus guttatus Plötz, 1880 Aphnaeus hollandi Butler, 1902 Aphnaeus rattrayi Sharpe, 1904 Aphnaeus orcas var. heliodorus Schultze, 1916 Aphnaeus orcas f. overlaeti Berger, 1953 Aphnaeus orcas f. fontainei Berger, 1953 Aphnaeus orcas f. paupera Stempffer, 1954

Aphnaeus orcas, the Common Highflier or Common Silver Spot, is a butterfly in the Lycaenidae family. It is found in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria (south and the Cross River loop), Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Mongala, Uele, Tshopo, Tshuapa, Equateur, Sankuru and Lualaba), Uganda, western and south-western Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.^[2] The habitat consists of forests.

Both sexes feed from flowers and males mud puddle.

The larvae feed on Alchornea cordifolia, Albizia, Allophylus, Blighia, Loranthus, Macaranga, Olea, Paullinia, Rhus, Scolopia, Scutia and Uncaria species. They are attended by ants of the Formicidae family.

References

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