Heteropsis perspicua

Species of butterfly

Marsh patroller

Upper and underside of H. perspicua in Seitz's Fauna Africana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Heteropsis
Species:	H. perspicua
Binomial name
*Heteropsis perspicua* (Trimen, 1873)^[1]
Synonyms
Mycalesis perspicua Trimen, 1873 Henotesia perspicua Mycalesis maevius Staudinger, 1888 Henotesia perspicua ab. submaevius Strand, 1910 Henotesia perspicua ab. amanica Strand, 1910

Heteropsis perspicua, the eyed bush brown, swamp patroller or marsh patroller, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is native to eastern and southern Africa, but a western subspecies is present in Cameroon.

Range

It is found in KwaZulu-Natal, Eswatini, Transvaal, Mozambique, from Zimbabwe to Kenya, in eastern Zaire and Tanzania.^[2]

Description

The wingspan is 38–43 mm for males and 42–48 mm for females. Adults are on wing year-round. The wet-season form is on wing in spring and summer and the dry-season form in autumn and winter.^[3]

Food plants

The larvae feed on various Poaceae species, including Ehrharta erecta, Panicum maximum and Pennisetum clandestinum.

Subspecies

Heteropsis perspicua perspicua (Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini)
Heteropsis perspicua camerounica (Kielland, 1994) (northern Cameroon)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heteropsis perspicua.

Wikispecies has information related to Heteropsis perspicua.

^ Afrotropical Butterflies: File E – Nymphalidae - Subtribe Mycalesina
^ "Heteropsis Westwood, 1850" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
^ Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.