Tsitana tsita

Tsitana tsita
Tsitana tsita
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Tsitana
Species: T. tsita
Binomial name
Tsitana tsita
(Trimen, 1870)[1]
Synonyms
  • Cyclopides tsita Trimen, 1870

The Dismal Sylph (Tsitana tsita) is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It is found from Winterberg and Amatolas in the eastern Cape along the Drakensberg into Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal down to sea level from Durban across the midlands to the Tugela, the Orange Free State, the eastern part of the North West Province and Gauteng into the Limpopo Province. It is also present in Zimbabwe.

The wingspan is 30-38 mm for males and 32-38 for females. Adults are on wing from December to March (with a peak in January). There is one generation per year[2].

The larvae feed on Stipa dregeana.

References

  1. ^ Tsitana, Site of Markku Savela
  2. ^ Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2005.
This Hesperiinae-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.