''Chrysoritis'', commonly called opals or coppers, is a genus of
butterflies in 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 butterf ...
found mainly in southern Africa and particularly South Africa.
Species
Species of the genus include:
''Chrysoritis''
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
The ''chrysaor'' species group:
* ''Chrysoritis aethon
''Chrysoritis aethon'', the Lydenburg opal, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in South Africa, where it is known from northern KwaZulu-Natal to Mpumalanga, along the Drakensberg escarpment to Mariepskop in Limpopo.
The wings ...
'' (Trimen, 1887) – Lydenburg opal
* '' Chrysoritis aureus'' (van Son, 1966) – Heidelberg copper or golden opal
* '' Chrysoritis lycegenes'' (Trimen, 1874) – Mooi River opal
* '' Chrysoritis lyncurium'' (Trimen, 1868) – Tsomo River opal or Tsomo River copper
* '' Chrysoritis midas'' (Pennington, 1962) – Midas opal
* '' Chrysoritis natalensis'' (van Son, 1966) – Natal opal
* '' Chrysoritis phosphor'' (Trimen, 1866) – scarce scarlet or golden flash
The ''chrysantas'' species group:
*'' Chrysoritis chrysantas'' (Trimen, 1868) – Karoo daisy copper
The ''oreas'' species group:
* '' Chrysoritis dicksoni'' (Gabriel, 1947) – Dickson's copper or Dickson's strandveld copper
* '' Chrysoritis oreas'' (Trimen, 1891) – Drakensberg copper or Drakensberg daisy copper
The ''pyroeis'' species group:
* '' Chrysoritis felthami'' (Trimen, 1904) – Feltham's opal
* '' Chrysoritis pyroeis'' (Trimen, 1864) – sand-dune opal
The ''thysbe'' species group:
* '' Chrysoritis adonis'' (Pennington, 1962) – Adonis opal
* '' Chrysoritis aridus'' (Pennington, 1953) – Namaqua opal
* '' Chrysoritis azurius'' (Swanepoel, 1975) – azure opal
* '' Chrysoritis beaufortius'' (Dickson, 1966) – Beaufort's opal
* '' Chrysoritis beulah'' (Quickelberge, 1966) – Beulah's opal
* '' Chrysoritis blencathrae'' (Heath & Ball, 1992) – Waaihoek opal
* '' Chrysoritis braueri'' (Pennington, 1967) – Brauer's opal
* '' Chrysoritis brooksi'' Riley, 1938 – Brook's opal
* '' Chrysoritis chrysaor'' (Trimen, 1864) – golden copper or burnished opal
* '' Chrysoritis daphne'' (Dickson, 1975) – Daphne's opal
* '' Chrysoritis endymion'' (Pennington, 1962) – Endymion opal
* '' Chrysoritis irene'' (Pennington, 1968) – Irene's opal
* '' Chrysoritis nigricans'' (Aurivillius, 1924) – dark opal
* '' Chrysoritis orientalis'' (Swanepoel, 1976) – eastern opal
* '' Chrysoritis palmus'' (Stoll, 781
__NOTOC__
Year 781 ( DCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 781 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Euro ...
– water opal
* '' Chrysoritis pan'' (Pennington, 1962) – Pan opal
* '' Chrysoritis pelion'' (Pennington, 1953) – Machacha opal
* '' Chrysoritis penningtoni'' (Riley, 1938) – Pennington's opal
* '' Chrysoritis perseus'' (Henning, 1977) – Perseus opal
* '' Chrysoritis plutus'' (Pennington, 1967) – Plutus opal
* '' Chrysoritis pyramus'' (Pennington, 1953) – Pyramus opal
* '' Chrysoritis rileyi'' (Dickson, 1966) – Riley's opal
* '' Chrysoritis swanepoeli'' (Dickson, 1965) – Swanepoel's opal
* '' Chrysoritis thysbe'' (Linnaeus, 1764) – opal copper or common opal
* '' Chrysoritis trimeni'' (Riley, 1938) – Trimen's opal
* '' Chrysoritis turneri'' (Riley, 1938) – Turner's opal
* '' Chrysoritis uranus'' (Pennington, 1962) – Uranus opal
* '' Chrysoritis violescens'' (Dickson, 1971) – violet opal
The ''zeuxo'' species group:
* '' Chrysoritis coetzeri'' Dickson & Wykeham, 1994 (may be included in ''C. zonarius'')[
* '' Chrysoritis cotrelli'' – Cotrell's daisy copper (may be included in ''C. zeuxo'')][
* '' Chrysoritis zeuxo'' (Linnaeus, 1764) – jitterbug daisy copper
* '' Chrysoritis zonarius'' (Riley, 1938) – donkey daisy copper
]
''Poecilmitis''
Formerly separated in genus ''Poecilmitis'':
* '' Poecilmitis adonis'' now ''C. adonis''
* '' Poecilmitis aureus'' now ''C. aureus''
* '' Poecilmitis azurius'' now ''C. azurius''
* '' Poecilmitis balli'' now ''C. pyramus balli''
* '' Poecilmitis daphne'' now ''C. daphne''
* '' Poecilmitis endymion'' now ''C. endymion''
* '' Poecilmitis henningi'' now ''C. pan henningi''
* '' Poecilmitis hyperion'' now ''C. swanepoeli hyperion''
* '' Poecilmitis irene'' now ''C. irene''
* '' Poecilmitis kaplani'' now ''C. beaufortius stepheni''
* '' Poecilmitis lyncurium'' now ''C. lyncurium''
* '' Poecilmitis lyndseyae'' now ''C. thysbe bamptoni''
* '' Poecilmitis orientalis'' now ''C. orientalis''
* '' Poecilmitis pan'' now ''C. pan''
* '' Poecilmitis penningtoni'' now ''C. penningtoni''
* '' Poecilmitis pyramus'' now ''C. pyramus''
* '' Poecilmitis rileyi'' now ''C. rileyi''
* '' Poecilmitis stepheni'' now ''C. beaufortius stepheni''
* '' Poecilmitis swanepoeli'' now ''C. swanepoeli''
* '' Poecilmitis trimeni'' now ''C. trimeni''
* '' Poecilmitis wykehami'' now ''C. turneri wykehami''
References
Butterflies of Africa
Lycaenidae genera
Taxa named by Arthur Gardiner Butler
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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