Tylopaedia

Tylopaedia is a butterfly genus in the family Lycaenidae.[1] It is monotypic containing only the species Tylopaedia sardonyx, the king copper, which is found in South Africa and Namibia.

King copper
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Subfamily: Aphnaeinae
Genus: Tylopaedia
Tite & Dickson, 1973
Species:
T. sardonyx
Binomial name
Tylopaedia sardonyx
(Trimen, 1868)
Synonyms
  • Zeritis sardonyx Trimen, 1868
  • Phasis sardonyx f. knobeli van Son, 1959
  • Phasis sardonyx peringueyi Dickson, 1969
  • Phasis sardonyx ab. peringueyi Aurivillius, 1924

The wingspan is 32–40 mm for males and 35–50 mm females. Adults are on wing from August to December and from January to April in two generations per year.[2]

The larvae feed on Aspalathus spinosa, Phylica olaefolia, and Euclea undulata.

Subspecies
  • Tylopaedia sardonyx sardonyx (eastern Western Cape to Namaqualand and near Karuman in the Northern Cape, north into Botswana, east to the Eastern Cape and the Free State)
  • Tylopaedia sardonyx peringueyi (Dickson, 1969) (Western Cape)
  • Tylopaedia sardonyx cerita Henning & Henning, 1998 (central Namibia)

References
  1. "Tylopaedia Tite & Dickson, 1973" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.


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