Leptosia alcesta
| African wood white | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Mabibi, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa | |
_underside.jpg) | |
| Underside | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pieridae |
| Genus: | Leptosia |
| Species: | L. alcesta |
| Binomial name | |
| Leptosia alcesta (Stoll, [1782])[1] | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Leptosia alcesta, the African wood white or flip flop, is a butterfly of the Pieridae family, found in Africa.[1]
The wingspan is 30–40 mm in males and 35–42 mm in females. The adults fly year round, peaking from March to May.[2]
The larva feed on Richea species, Capparis fascicularis, and Capparis brassii.[2]
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_in_flight.jpg)
In flight
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_face.jpg)
Worn specimen with the appearance of a face
Subspecies
- L. a. alcesta (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- L. a. inalcesta Bernardi, 1959 (Uganda, southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland)
- L. a. pseudonuptilla Bernardi, 1959 (Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ethiopia)
- L. a. sylvicola (Boisduval, 1833) (Madagascar)
References
- 1 2 Leptosia alcesta, funet.fi
- 1 2 Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Cape Town:Struik Publishers, 2005.
External links
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/14/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.