''Thestor rileyi'', the Riley's 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 known from the Western Cape, from the

Helderberg Helderberg refers to a planning district of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality, the mountain after which it is named, a wine-producing area in the Western Cape province of South Africa, or a small census area in Somerset West. Or ...

and Paarl mountains to the Kouebokkeveldberg, Piketberg and Paardeberg mountain ranges. 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 24–36 mm for males and 32.5–41 mm for females. Adults are on wing from late November to early January with a peak in December. 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 1956 Thestor Endemic butterflies of South Africa {{Miletinae-stub