Nature’s calling – Strelitzia night-fighter butterfly
Do all butterflies fly around during the day?
Nope, you are wrong. South Africa is home to several different butterfly species that fly around mostly in the early evenings, including the night-fighter butterflies. There are three different species of night-fighter butterfly in the Durban south area, the strelitzia, bush and the palm-tree. For this article I will refer to the most common night-fighter butterfly, the strelitzia.
As their name suggests, the butterflies fly around in the evening, particularly early evening. They are fast, noisy flyers, often being confused with hawk moths. The female of the species lay their eggs signally on the leaves of Strelitzia Nicolai, common indigenous plants found along the coast in much of KZN. The slug like larva make a fold in the edge of the leaf (sticking it together with silk), in which they live, kind of like a sleeping bag, only emerging at night to feed on the leaf. I have also had them feeding on my banana tree leaves.
The larva are sought after by vervet monkeys for food and they also fall prey to spiders.
If you would like to make contact with Warren to have some of your interesting insects, snakes or spiders identified, WhatsApp or call him on 072-211-0353.
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