Myrina silenus

Myrina silenus, the common fig-tree blue, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa, southern Arabia and northern Oman.

Common fig-tree blue
Nominate subspecies, Nigeria
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Myrina
Species:	M. silenus
Binomial name
Myrina silenus (Fabricius, 1775)[1]
Synonyms
Papilio silenus Fabricius, 1775 Papilio alcides Cramer, [1776] Myrina ficedula Trimen, 1879 Papilio corax Stoll, 1781 Myrina silenus deserticola Stempffer, 1969 Myrina silenus f. nzoiae Stoneham, 1937

Description

The wingspan is 26.5–34 mm for males and 33–41 mm for females. Adults are on wing year-round with peaks from September to October and from April to June in the eastern part of the range.^[2]

Habitat and behavior

The larvae feed on Ficus species, including F. capensis, F. cordata, F. sur, F. pumila and F. ingens.

M. s. ficedula

Subspecies

• M. s. silenus

Range: Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Angola, DRC, Chad, Sudan, Uganda, north-western Zambia

• M. s. nzoiae d'Abrera, 1980

Range: Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, northern Oman, western and northern Kenya

• M. s. ficedula (Trimen, 1879)

Range: southern Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia: Caprivi, Eswatini, South Africa: Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces

• M. s. penningtoni Dickson & Stephen, 1971

Range: western South Africa: Western Cape to Northern Cape

• M. s. suzannae Larsen & Plowes, 1991

Range: northern Namibia