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Grassland Butterflies

Categories: Biomes
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What Will You Learn?

  • What is special about the Grassland Biome in South Africa
  • How its butterflies evolved to be the way they are
  • What are the various vegetation types within the Grassland Biome and how their differences are reflected in their butterfly fauna
  • This is too huge a subject to be covered adequately on a short course like this, but it will help you to gain the understanding needed to to study it further. Then come on one of my on-site courses and ask me questions about butterflies in real life!

Course Content

Grassland vegetation types
There are four grassland bioregions: Sub-escarpment Grassland (Gs units), Drakensberg Grassland (Gd units), Mesic Highveld Grassland (Gm units), and Dry Highveld Grassland (Gh units). The moisture levels decrease as one moves further west and away from the areas where precipitation is high. They are made up of individual vegetation units. Within these there are intrazonal shrublands and woodlands, and azonal wetlands. Each has its distinct vegetation, and as a result, differing butterfly populations. You will see lots of references to ‘sweet veld’ and ‘sourveld’ which are the two basic divisions of the grassland biome. ‘Sweet’ grasses have a lower fibre content, maintain their nutrients in the leaves in winter and are therefore palatable to stock. ‘Sour’ grasses have a higher fibre content and tend to withdraw their nutrients from the leaves during winter so that they are unpalatable to stock.

  • Grassland Biodiversity
    18:35
  • Grassland Bioregions
    18:39
  • The Grassland Biome in general how it evolved along South African butterflies

Grass-feeding Satyrinae (Widows, Browns, and Ringlets)
Butterflies in the subfamily Satyrinae (Browns, Ringlets, Widows etc.) of the family Nymphalidae have certain groups that are almost entirely endemic to South Africa because they evolved here under our special conditions. We will cover some of them in detail here.

Grassland Blues (subfamily Polyommatinae)
Lycaenid, or Gossamer-winged, butterflies’ caterpillars feed on specialised forbs or shrubs that co-exist with the grasses in grassland and may represent the majority of the plant diversity found there. These butterflies stay close to their host plants; knowing which species uses as a host is often the key to finding them.

Grassland Lycaenids other than Polyommatinae
Lycaenid, or Gossamer-winged, butterflies’ caterpillars feed on specialised forbs or shrubs that co-exist with the grasses in grassland and may represent the majority of the plant diversity found there. Some of the lycaenids found in grassland show affinities with groups more typical of the two karoo biomes or fynbos. Another group does not use plants at all but has caterpillars that feed on lichens growing on rocks.

Other grassland butterflies
Hesperiid, or Skipper, butterflies’ caterpillars often feed on grasses so many are found in grassland. There are also members of other families, namely Nymphalidae and Pieridae, whose caterpillars use grassland forbs and as a result are found mostly in grassland.

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