''Cacyreus tespis'', the water bronze or water blue, 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

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...

. It is found from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. 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 15–25 mm for males and 17–25 mm for females. Adults are on wing year-round in warmer areas, but usually from August to May. At higher altitudes adults are on wing in December and January. The larvae feed on the buds and green seeds of ''

Geranium ''Geranium'' is a genus of 422 species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as geraniums or cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in ...

'' and ''

Pelargonium ''Pelargonium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that includes about 280 species of perennials, succulents, and shrubs, commonly called geraniums, pelargoniums, or storksbills. '' Geranium'' is also the botanical name and common name of a separ ...

'' species.

Subspecies

*''Cacyreus tespis tespis'' – Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Kivu and Maniema, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa: Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces *''Cacyreus tespis ghimirra'' Talbot, 1935 – highlands of Ethiopia

References

Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 73
Butterflies described in 1804 Cacyreus {{Polyommatini-stub