Iolaus timon, the long-tailed sapphire, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania.[2] The habitat consists of forests.
| Iolaus timon | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Iolaus |
| Species: | I. timon
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| Binomial name | |
| Iolaus timon | |
| Synonyms | |
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Adults of both sexes have been recorded feeding from the large yellow flowers of asteraceous plants and the flowers of Poinsettia species.
The larvae feed on the flowers of Loranthus incanus, Phragmanthera capitata, Phragmanthera usuiensis and Phragmenthera polycrypta. They are dull green.
Subspecies
edit- Iolaus timon timon (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria: south and the Cross River loop, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Iolaus timon congoensis (Joicey & Talbot, 1921) (Democratic Republic of the Congo: Uele, Kivu, Tshopo, Tshuapa, Equateur, Kinshasa, Sankuru and Tanganika)
- Iolaus timon orientius Hulstaert, 1924 (Uganda, north-western Tanzania)
References
edit- ^ Iolaus at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
- ^ "Afrotropical Butterflies: Lycaenidae - Subtribe Iolaina". Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
External links
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