''Cigaritis homeyeri'', the Homeyer's bar or Homeyer's silverline, is a
lycaenid
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 ...
butterfly that is native to the
Afrotropics
The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...
. Adults are on wing year-round with distinct wet- and dry-season forms.
Range
It is found in
Cameroon,
Gabon, the
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...
,
Angola, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa, Equateur, Lualaba, Lomami, Shaba and Maniema),
Uganda,
Kenya,
Tanzania,
Malawi,
Zambia,
Zimbabwe,
Mozambique and
Namibia.
Habitat and food plants
The habitat consists of grassy savannah. The larvae feed on ''
Acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
'' species.
Etymology
The name honours
Alexander von Homeyer
Alexander von Homeyer (19 January 1834, in Vorland, now a part of Splietsdorf – 14 July 1903, in Greifswald) was a German soldier and ornithologist. He was a cousin of Eugen Ferdinand von Homeyer, also an ornithologist.
Homeyer joined the ...
.
References
External links
''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 69''f''
Butterflies described in 1887
Cigaritis
Butterflies of Africa
Taxa named by Hermann Dewitz
{{Aphnaeini-stub