''Zizeeria knysna'', the dark grass blue or African grass blue, is a species of blue butterfly (Lycaenidae) found in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, on

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. Sometimes mistakenly called ''Zizeeria lysimon'' (Hübner), that species name is invalid as it is preoccupied by '' Papilio lisimon'' Stoll,

790 __NOTOC__ Year 790 ( DCCXC) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 790 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

a butterfly in the family Riodinidae. 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 18–23 mm for males and 21–26 mm for females. The butterfly flies nearly year-round. The larvae feed on ''

Medicago ''Medicago'' is a genus of flowering plants, commonly known as medick or burclover, in the legume family (Fabaceae). It contains at least 87 species and is distributed mainly around the Mediterranean basin. The best-known member of the genus is ...

'', ''

Melilotus ''Melilotus'', known as melilot, sweet clover, and kumoniga (from the Cumans),Bulgarian Folk Customs, Mercia MacDermott, pg 27 is a genus in the family Fabaceae (the same family that also includes the ''Trifolium'' clovers). Members are known ...

'', '' Acanthyllis'', '' Armeria delicatula'', ''

Polygonum equisetiforme ''Polygonum'' is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plant in the buckwheat and knotweed family Polygonaceae. Common names include knotweed and knotgrass (though the common names may refer more broadly to plants from Polygonaceae). In the ...

'', '' Tribulus terrestris'' and '' Oxalis''.

Gallery

African grass blue Zizeeria knysna knysna 2012 05 12 12 11 16 9014.jpg Zizeeria knysna-01 (xndr).jpg Zizeeria_knysna_HotMarina_2012-01-21.jpg Zizeeria knysna (underside).jpg Zizeeria knysna HotMarina 2012-04-28 in cop.jpg Zizeeria knysna HotMarina 2012-01-15 cop.jpg ZizeeriaKnysnaMoroccoMFUpUnAC1.jpg Zizeera lysimon.jpg

References

External links

Butterflies of Europe

at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' Polyommatini Butterflies of Africa Butterflies of Europe Fauna of Cyprus Fauna of the Iberian Peninsula Butterflies described in 1862 {{Polyommatini-stub