Heidelberg Copper

Heidelberg Copper Chrysoritis aureus (Lycaenidae: Theclinae) is one of our butterfly conservation success stories.  First discovered in December 1959 by C Barrett and F Coetzee at Heidelberg, the colony was the only one known until the early 1980's when Graham Henning discovered a strong colony in the hills south of Greylingstad. Members of the Lepidopterists' Society located a colony above Feeskrans in the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve in September 1986, and more recently a population was found in the Alice Glockner Butterfly Reserve (above), where the butterfly is conserved and studied.

The butterfly's life history has been well studied. It is only found near stands of the foodplant Clutia pulchella (Euphorbiaceae) growing in poor soils on south facing slopes. The larvae shelter and pupate in nests of the ant Crematogaster liengmei. The picture at bottom is the actual flight locality; despite appearing desert-like, the photos of the adults were taken on the same day in September 2008.