Spialia diomus

Spialia diomus
Spialia diomus, female, figure 6
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Spialia
Species: S. diomus
Binomial name
Spialia diomus
(Höpffer, 1855)[1]
Synonyms
  • Pyrgus diomus Hopffer, 1855
  • Syrichtus diomus
  • Syrichtus ferax Wallengren, 1863
  • Pyrgus machacoana Butler, 1899
  • Pyrgus abscondita Plötz, 1884
  • Syrichthus lacreuzei Oberthür, 1912

Spialia diomus, the common sandman or Diomus grizzled skipper, is a butterfly of the Hesperiidae family. It is found in tropical Africa and south-western Arabia.

The wingspan is 27–31 mm for males and 29–33 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round in warmer areas. In South Africa it is more common in warmer months. In cooler areas adults are on wing from August to April.[2]

The larvae feed on Hibiscus (including Hibiscus aethiopicus), Sida, Pavonia (including Pavonia burchellii), Waltheria and Hermannia species (including Hermannia diffusa, Hermannia incana, Hermannia comosa, Hermannia depressa and Hermannia cuneifolia).

Subspecies

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Spialia diomus.
Wikispecies has information related to: Spialia diomus
  1. Spialia, Site of Markku Savela
  2. Woodhall, S. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 2005.


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