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NarrativeWikipediaarticle
Occurrence & distributionGBIF987 records
DNA & barcodingBOLD13 specimens
01Narrative
Aloeides thyra, the red copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in the Western Cape, South Africa. The wingspan is 22–26 mm for males and 24–28 mm females. Adults are on wing from July to April with peaks in October and February. There are several generations per year through the warmer months. The larvae feed on Aspalathus acuminata, A. laricifolia and A. cymbiformis. The larvae are attended to by Lepisiota capensis ants.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Aloeides thyra has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens13
BINs2
Marker genes1
Countries1
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P653 bp consensus13 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 96% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 29 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)1.4%
Haplotypes5
BINs2
Most divergent pair3.4%
Africa
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type987 records
Wild obs. + sensor540
Museum / vouchered447
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO1 360 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy79% within 1 km
≤100 m 174≤1 km 100≤10 km 74>10 km 1
349 georeferenced · 191 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor540
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy0% within 1 km
≤10 km 6
6 georeferenced · 441 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence447
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions3 of 9 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Teylers Museumlocation not on record
150
Iziko South African Museumlocation not on record
107
Durban Natural Science Museumlocation not on record
99
Cape Town, ZA
56
Sydney, AU
17
Cambridge, US
7
KwaZulu-Natal Museumlocation not on record
6
Northern Michigan Universitylocation not on record
4
East London Museumlocation not on record
1
9 institutions · 447 of 447 vouchered records shown
