Forest Hairtail

Forest Hairtail

Anthene larydas

Daily sighting probability ~10% · With luck
at Durban

In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%

30 Verified sightings at Durban
98 In all 2 parks From 2019 to 2026
April Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Forest Hairtail

Anthene larydas, the spotted hairtail or common ciliate blue, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, western Kenya to South Africa and Mozambique.

The larvae feed on Acacia farnesiana, Afzelia species, Albizia gummifera, Albizia zygia, Dichrostachys glomerata and Hypericum species. They are associated with the ant species Pheidole aurivillii race kasaiensis, Camponotus akwapimensis var. poultoni and Crematogaster striatula var. horati. Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Bwindi Impenetrable National Park 🇺🇬 Uganda
~20%
2 iSimangaliso Wetland Park 🇿🇦 South Africa
~20%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Durban 🇿🇦 South Africa
~10%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Forest Hairtail in Durban?

With luck

About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Forest Hairtail sighting in Durban on a given day, based on 30 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 71st most-seen of the 401 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Forest Hairtail in Durban?

April

In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Forest Hairtail in Durban on a given day, against under 5% in February, June–September and November, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Forest Hairtail?

Between 11 am and 2 pm

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Forest Hairtail sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Where else can you see a Forest Hairtail?

Only Durban, in our data

Durban is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Forest Hairtail sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.

Where does the Forest Hairtail sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Forest Hairtail is recorded against all the insects logged in Durban (30 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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