Semalea pulvina

Semalea pulvina, the silky dart, silky skipper or branded silky skipper, is a butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, western Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, northern Zambia, Mozambique and eastern Zimbabwe.[2] The habitat consists of forests.

"Silky skipper" redirects here. For the other butterfly with this common name, see Semalea sextilis.

Semalea pulvina
Figure 14
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Hesperiidae
Genus:
Semalea
Species:
S. pulvina
Binomial name
Semalea pulvina
(Plötz, 1879)[1]
Synonyms
  • Hesperia pulvina Plötz, 1879
  • Hesperia ilias Plötz, 1879
  • Hesperia tenebricosa Plötz, 1882
  • Cobalus carbo Mabille, 1890
  • Ceratrichia paucipunctata Bethune-Baker, 1908
  • Baoris ilias ab. punctifera Strand, 1913

Adults have been recorded feeding on blossoms of Syzygium cordatum. They are on wing from August to September and from February to May.

The larvae feed on Siphonochilus aethiopicus and Aframomum species.

References
  1. Semalea at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Afrotropical Butterflies: Hesperiidae - Subfamily Hesperiinae


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