EASY GARDEN BUTTERFLIES
Dark Blue PansyJunonia oenone oenone
The Dark Blue Pansy is one of the Nymphalidae (Brush-footed Butterflies), subfamily Nymphalinae (Admirals, Pansies etc.).
Pansies are small to medium-sized butterflies with a wingspan of between 40 and 60mm. They get their common name from the way some of them resemble pansy flowers. Dark Blue Pansy is one of these; its blue and white markings on a jet-black ground have a ‘face-like’ pattern if you use your imagination a bit!
They are sun loving, prolific, confiding butterflies. They fly low and often settle on flowers or the ground. The males are aggressively territorial and will choose a high point and chase away all other butterflies from it – even big ones like Charaxes. This is a female; males are similar but don’t have as many red eyespots. The underside is coloured in shades of brown and grey, camouflaging it when resting on the ground or amongst dead leaves.
Distribution
The Dark Blue Pansy is found across the eastern side of South Africa, avoiding the arid Karoo areas, Deserts, and the Fynbos. However, it’s followed its host plants, which are popular with gardeners, as far as Knysna in the Western Cape. It’s commoner in the savanna of the Lowveld and coastal areas to the east but is also found in Highveld grassland. It can occur anywhere its host plants grow. It’s widespread in Africa but does not reach Asia; it’s found on the southern end of the Arabian peninsula. Another subspecies is found on Madagascar and the Indian Ocean islands.
Egg
Dark Blue Pansy eggs
Junonia oenone oenone
The female Dark Blue Pansy hides her tiny, dull watery green, barrel-shaped eggs inside young shoots of the host plant. Laid singly or in small groups, they are about 0.7mm diameter by 0.7mm high. They taper slightly at the top, and have about 15 longitudinal ribs with fine cross-ribs. The egg stage lasts four to ten days, taking longer in cold conditions.
Caterpillar
Dark Blue Pansy larva
Junonia oenone oenone
Fully-grown Dark Blue Pansy caterpillars are grey-black in colour with a whitish double stripe along the back, short cream lines along the side and a yellow line above the underside, which is red-brown. They have rows of short, branched, black spines. Although spiny they don’t sting or make you itch. They grow from 1.5mm to 40-45mm over one to two months depending on weather conditions. There are normally four moults but when growth is slow there can be up to six.
Pupa/Chrysalis
Dark Blue Pansy pupa
Junonia oenone oenone
The Dark Blue Pansy pupa is variable in colour, from sandy to black through various shades of brown. It closely resembles that of the African Yellow Pansy, having the rounded shape typical of Pansy pupae. It’s usually formed concealed on the host plant or in leaf debris where it is well camouflaged. Like all Nymphalidae pupae it is attached to its substrate by its tail. The pupa is 15-20mm long and the adult usually emerges after 2-3 weeks.
Host plants
Dark Blue Pansy caterpillars feed on many different plants but one of the best is African Coromandel Asystasia intrusa. It also uses Bush Violet Barleria obtusa, other Barleria species, Ribbon Bush Hypoestes aristata, Justicia species, Butterfly Heaven Dyschoriste depressa and other Dyschoriste species. Most of the host plants are in the family Acanthaceae.
African Coromandel
Asystasia intrusa
Meyer's Bushviolet
Barleria meyeriana
Ribbon Flower
Hypoestes aristata
Butterfly Heaven
Dyschoriste depressa
How to attract them
Gardeners can promote the presence of this butterfly by cultivating its preferred host plants and creating a sunny, sheltered environment with an abundance of nectar-rich flowers.
Provided you have plenty of nectar plants in your garden, you’re very likely to see them. They love to sit drinking nectar from garden flowers and basking in the sun slowly opening and closing their wings.