''Lipaphnaeus aderna'', the bramble false hairstreak or blue silver speckle, is a
butterfly in the family
Lycaenidae. It is found in
Sierra Leone,
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
,
Ghana,
Nigeria,
Cameroon, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Uganda,
Kenya,
Tanzania,
Malawi,
Mozambique and
Zimbabwe.
The habitat consists of forests and dense savanna.
Both sexes have been recorded on flowering shrubs in sunny glades. Adult males
mud puddle
A puddle is a small accumulation of liquid, usually water, on a surface. It can form either by pooling in a depression on the surface, or by surface tension upon a flat surface.
A puddle is generally shallow enough to walk through, and too sm ...
. Adults are probably on wing year-round, with peaks from August to October and again from March to May.
The larvae feed on ''
Maesa lanceolata''. They are associated with ants of the genus ''
Crematogaster''.
Subspecies
*''Lipaphnaeus aderna aderna'' (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon)
*''Lipaphnaeus aderna pan''
(Talbot, 1935) (Uganda, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ituri and Kivu)
*''Lipaphnaeus aderna spindasoides''
(Aurivillius, 1916) (south-eastern Kenya, Malawi, western Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, Tanzania: north-east to the Usambara Mountains)
References
External links
''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 70''a''
Butterflies described in 1880
Aphnaeinae
Butterflies of Africa
{{Aphnaeini-stub