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Coeliades chalybe

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Coeliades chalybe
Scientific classification
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Species:
C. chalybe
Binomial name
Coeliades chalybe
(Westwood, 1852)[1]
Synonyms
  • Ismene chalybe Westwood, 1852

Coeliades chalybe, the blue policeman, is a butterfly in the Hesperiidae family. It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, from Equatorial Guinea to Angola and to Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.[2] The habitat consists of primary and secondary forests.

Adults of both sexes feed at flowers on forest edges or along forest roads. Adult males also feed from bird droppings.

The larvae feed on Theobroma cacao, Cynanchum, Acridocarpus (including Acridocarpus smeathmanni) and Marsdenia species.

Subspecies

  • Coeliades chalybe chalybe (Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea to Uganda, western Kenya, northern Tanzania, and Angola)
  • Coeliades chalybe immaculata Carpenter, 1935 (south-western Ethiopia)

References