Looking out for the Zebra Blues

This butterfly’s curious name hints at the way in which the sexes are differentiated.

(L) Male Zebra Blue species (upper side) (Photograph: Justin Bode); ® Female Zebra Blue (upper side) (Photograph: Steve Woodhall)

The Leptotes genus is represented by five species in South Africa, four of which could occur at Verloren Valei – Leptotes pirithous Pirithous (Common Zebra Blue, Sebrabloutjie) Leptotes brevidentatus (Short-toothed Zebra Blue, Korttand Sebrabloutjie); Leptotes jeanneli (Jeannel’s Zebra Blue, Diktand Sebrabloutjie); Leptotes babaulti (Babault’s Zebra Blue, Langtand Sebrabloutjie). However being able to identify them to species level requires genital dissection.

The most common species is Leptotes pirithous pirithous, Common Zebra Blue. In all probability, it is this species of the genus that is most often encountered. The Common Zebra Blue is found in most biomes, except primary forest and desert, and is also a common garden butterfly due to the popularity of its larval foodplants.

Larval foodplants include Burkea africana, Indigofera species and Plumbago species,all of which are fairly widely distributed and occur in many suburban gardens. The larva feeds on the flowers, seeds and young terminal shoots of the food-plants.

These butterflies are small with males measuring 21mm to 29mm and the females 24mm to 30mm. The sexes differ in coloration: while the males have plain blue upper sides, the females are blue only in the area around the body. The rest of the females’ upper sides have wide grey-brown margins crossed by white-edged grey-brown bands.

The under side of both males and females is striped.

Zebra Blue species (underside) (Photograph: Justin Bode)

The combination of blue and stripes presumably led to the unusual name.

Zebra Blues are on the wing throughout the year in warmer areas, and from October to March in cooler areas. They have a slow, fluttering flight around their host plants and may fly higher around flowering trees. The males sometimes perch on high, prominent twigs and chase away other butterflies, The females are found on flowers and close to the host plant.