About Spalgis lemolea Druce, 1890
Spalgis lemolea, commonly known as the lemolea harvester or African apefly, is a butterfly species belonging to the family Lycaenidae. It was first formally described by Hamilton Herbert Druce in 1890. This species is distributed across Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the area from Gabon to Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, northern Zimbabwe, and Botswana. Its natural habitat includes forests, dense savannahs such as Guinea savannah and miombo woodland, and thick riverine bush. Individual Spalgis lemolea resemble the coccids that they feed on. The coccid species they consume include members of the genera Dactylopius (specifically Dactylopius longispinus and Dactylopius virgatus var. madagascariensis), Pseudococcus, Phenacoccus, Planococcoides, Ferrisiana, and Planococcus.
