Lipaphnaeus aderna

Lipaphnaeus aderna, the bramble false hairstreak or blue silver speckle, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.^[2] The habitat consists of forests and dense savanna.

Lipaphnaeus aderna
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Lipaphnaeus
Species:	L. aderna
Binomial name
Lipaphnaeus aderna (Plötz, 1880)[1]
Synonyms
Zeritis aderna Plötz, 1880 Zeritis fallax Sharpe, 1890 Zeritis latifimbriata Sharpe, 1890 Aphnaeus ruficaudis Strand, 1918 Spindasis aderna pan Talbot, 1935 Aphnaeus spindasoides Aurivillius, 1916

Both sexes have been recorded on flowering shrubs in sunny glades. Adult males mud puddle. Adults are probably on wing year-round, with peaks from August to October and again from March to May.

The larvae feed on Maesa lanceolata. They are associated with ants of the genus Crematogaster.

Subspecies

• Lipaphnaeus aderna aderna (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon)
• Lipaphnaeus aderna pan (Talbot, 1935) (Uganda, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ituri and Kivu)
• Lipaphnaeus aderna spindasoides (Aurivillius, 1916) (south-eastern Kenya, Malawi, western Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, Tanzania: north-east to the Usambara Mountains)