Brenton Blue

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED: The Brenton Blue butterfly, Orachrysops niobe (Lycaenidae: Polyommatinae) was first discovered during a visit to Knysna 150 years ago, in 1858, by Roland Trimen, curator of the South African Museum in Cape Town. It was not seen again anywhere else until it was found again at Nature’s Valley in 1977 by Dr Jonathan Ball, a Cape Town radiologist and butterfly expert. Unfortunately, the butterfly had disappeared from Nature’s Valley by the late 1980s, as more and more houses were built there.

Ernest Pringle, an Eastern Cape farmer and butterfly enthusiast as well, discovered the location of the colony at Brenton-on-Sea in November 1991 (following earlier sightings by Dr Ball). This colony is the only known remaining place where this butterfly occurs, despite intensive searches along the Southern Cape coast by many butterfly experts (lepidopterists).

For more information, visit the official Brenton Blue website!