''Cigaritis natalensis'', the Natal bar or Natal barred blue, is a
butterfly of the family
Lycaenidae. It is found in
South Africa, from the
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha.
The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...
along the coast to
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
,
Eswatini
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...
, the
Free State,
Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...
,
Gauteng,
Limpopo and
North West provinces, and part of the
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...
province. It is also present in
Botswana.
The
wingspan is 25–32.5 mm for males and 26.5–34 mm for females. Adults are on wing year-round with peaks from September to October and from March to May.
The larvae feed on ''
Canthium inerme'', ''
Clerodendrum glabrum
''Clerodendrum glabrum'' is a small to medium deciduous tree, widespread from Tropical to Southern Africa.
In common with others of this family, its bark is covered in prominent white lenticels. Leaves are usually in whorls of 3 and produce a fe ...
'' and ''
Ximenia caffra''.
References
External links
''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 69''e''
Butterflies described in 1851
Cigaritis
{{Aphnaeini-stub