Tarucus bowkeri

Tarucus bowkeri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Tarucus
Species:	T. bowkeri
Binomial name
Tarucus bowkeri (Trimen, 1883)[1]
Synonyms
Lycaena bowkeri Trimen, 1883

Tarucus bowkeri, the Bowker's blue, is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in South Africa, from the Northern Cape, south to fynbos in the West Cape and east to the Amathole Mountains in the Eastern Cape.

The wingspan is 23–27 mm for males and 26–29 mm for females. Adults are on wing from October to March, but is most common in early summer and sometimes also on wing in winter. There are multiple generations per year.^[2]

The larvae feed on Phylica paniculata.

Subspecies

• Tarucus bowkeri bowkeri (from Eastern Cape along escarpment to KwaZulu-Natal and along the Drakensberg foothills)
• Tarucus bowkeri transvaalensis Quickelberge, 1972 (from Mpumalanga and the Limpopo province along the Drakensberg escarpment)

References

1. Tarucus at Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera
2. Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2005.