Tagiades flesus

Clouded Forester
A male Tagiades flesus, summer form
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Tagiades
Species: T. flesus
Binomial name
Tagiades flesus
(Fabricius, 1781)[1]
Synonyms
  • Papilio flesus Fabricius, 1781
  • Papilio ophion Drury, 1782[2]
  • Tagiades flesus f. ophelia Evans, 1937

The Clouded Flat, Clouded Forester or Clouded Skipper (Tagiades flesus) is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family from southern Africa.

The underside of Tagiades flesus

Description

The wingspan is 35–47 mm for males and 43–49 mm for females. The upper surface of the wings is brownish with translucent spots near the apex of the forewings. These spots are larger in the female than in the male.[3] The undersurface of the hindwings is white with a semicircle of irregular black spots. The winter form is lighter in colour than the summer form.[3]

Distribution

This species is found in forest areas from the Eastern Cape of South Africa,[3] through Swaziland and to the border of Zimbabwe.[3]

Life cycle

Eggs

Female Tagiades flesus
Tagiades flesus on flowers of Tabernaemontana ventricosa

Single eggs are laid on the shoots of the food plants.[4]

Larvae

The larvae feed on Dioscorea species (including Dioscorea malifolia) and Grewia species. The larva makes a shelter by cutting part way through a leaf from its edge and folding it over, or by sticking two leaves together with silk.[4]

Pupae

The pupa is formed within the leaf shelter and is light brown in colour.[4]

Adults

Adults are on wing year round; in warmer areas with peaks in late summer and autumn.[5] The males select territories and fly rapidly, with the white underside of the wings 'flashing'.[3] The females fly randomly throughout the forest.[3] The adults feed from flowers,[3] including those of Deinbollia oblongifolia and Tabernaemontana ventricosa.[6] These butterflies usually sit with the wings open.

References

  1. ↑ Tagiades, Site of Markku Savela
  2. ↑ NHM database. Savela appears to be wrong in crediting this name to Stoll [1790].
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Williams, M. (1994). Butterflies of Southern Africa; A Field Guide. Southern Book Publishers. ISBN 1-86812-516-5.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Woodhall, S.(2008). What's that Butterfly?. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. ISBN 978-1-77007-486-6.
  5. ↑ Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2005. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
  6. ↑ Purves, M. (2010)
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