Stugeta bowkeri

Bowker’s sapphire

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Stugeta
Species:	S. bowkeri
Binomial name
*Stugeta bowkeri* (Trimen, 1864)^[1]
Synonyms
Iolaus bowkeri Trimen, 1864 Stugeta maria Suffert, 1904 Iolaus (Stugeta) bowkeri albeza Koçak, 1996 Stugeta bowkeri f. caerulea Stempffer, 1947 Stugeta bowkeri f. mombasae Butler, 1901 Stugeta bowkeri var. nyanzana Wichgraf, 1911

Bowker’s sapphire, Bowker's marbled sapphire or Bowker's tailed blue (Stugeta bowkeri) is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in most of southern Africa.

The wingspan is 26–32 mm for males and 29–41 mm for females. Adults are on wing from September to May, with peaks in October and March.^[2]

Larvae of ssp. bowkeri and henningi feed on Viscum rotundifolium. Larvae of ssp. tearei have been recorded on Ximenia caffra and X. americana, Viscum rotundifolium and Tapinanthus quinquangulus. Other recorded food plants include Loranthus species (including L. elegans and L. oleaefolius) and other Tapinanthus and Ximenia species.

Subspecies

S. b. bowkeri – Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Transvaal, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia
S. b. albeza (Koçak, 1996) – Somalia
S. b. caerulea Stempffer – Somalia (Galkayu)
S. b. ethiopica Stempffer & Bennett, 1958 – Ethiopia
S. b. henningi Dickson, 1980 – arid savannah of Free State, North-West and Northern Cape provinces in South Africa
S. b. kedonga van Someren, 1939 – the Great Rift Valley in Kenya
S. b. maria Suffert, 1904 – Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo: south-east to Lualaba and Shaba, Tanzania, northern Zambia
S. b. mombasae Butler, 1901 – coast of eastern Kenya and north-eastern Tanzania
S. b. nyanzana Wichgraf, 1911 – Lake Victoria, western Kenya
S. b. nyasana Talbot, 1935 – Malawi, south-eastern Tanzania
S. b. tearei Dickson, 1980 – southern Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, northern Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa: Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces

Etymology

The name honours the lepidopterist James Henry Bowker.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stugeta bowkeri.

Wikispecies has information related to: Stugeta bowkeri

↑ Iolaus, Site of Markku Savela
↑ Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2005.

External links

Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 67 c (transitional)

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