''Andronymus neander'', the common dart or nomad dart, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

. It is found in tropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. The habitat consists of moist woodland, forest margins and riparian vegetation, from sea level up to altitudes of 2,400 metres.Afrotropical Butterflies: Hesperiidae - Subfamily Hesperiinae
/ref> The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 38–46 mm for males and 42–48 mm for females. Adults are on wing from September to April in South Africa. There are continuous generations year-round further north. The larvae feed on '' Brachystegia'' species (including ''

Brachystegia spiciformis ''Brachystegia spiciformis'', commonly known as zebrawood, or msasa, is a medium-sized African tree having compound leaves and racemes of small fragrant green flowers. The tree is broad and has a distinctive amber and wine red colour when the y ...

''), ''

Afzelia africana ''Afzelia africana'', the African mahogany, afzelia, lenke, lengue, apa, or doussi, is a tree species in the family Fabaceae. Range It occurs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DRCongo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Gui ...

'' and '' Acridocarpus smeathmannii''.

Subspecies

*''Andronymus neander neander'' (Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, northern Namibia, Eswatini, South Africa: Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal) *''Andronymus neander thomasi'' Riley, 1928 (São Tomé and Príncipe)

References

* * Butterflies described in 1884 Erionotini Butterflies of Africa {{Erionotini-stub