''Thestor pictus'', the Langeberg skolly, 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 in

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 ...

, where it is found in

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

-covered mountain slopes above Garcia's Pass on the

Langeberg The Langeberg Range is a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its highest peak is Keeromsberg at 2,075 m that lies 15 km northeast of the town of Worcester. Some of the highest peaks of the range are located just to ...

. 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 26–28 mm for males and 27–29 mm for females. Adults are on wing from the end of September to November, with a peak in October. There is one generation per year. Larvae have been found in the nests of the pugnacious ant ''

Anoplolepis custodiens ''Anoplolepis custodiens'', commonly known as the common pugnacious ant, is a species of ant in the genus ''Anoplolepis'', native to central and southern Africa. Individual ants may come in a range of colors and sizes. Found in dry and cultivated ...

'', but the larval food is unknown.

References

Butterflies described in 1941 Thestor Endemic butterflies of South Africa {{Miletinae-stub