This small species is a native of South Africa and arrived in southern Spain via the importation of geraniums, its larval foodplants. Since the 1990s it has spread north and east as far as the Netherlands and Greece and is now a common garden butterfly in some areas; which isn’t surprising considering that geraniums are so widely planted. It is capable of existing in rather urbanised areas where they may be few other species in flight.
Distribution: Mediterranean, Iberian peninsula and parts of France. Spreading northwards.
Flight Period: All year in the south, but April-October elsewhere in multiple broods.
Habitat: Gardens, parks, scrub, wasteground; anywhere where its foodplant grows. It seems to prefer lower altitudes.
Foodplants: Various species of ornamental and wild Geraniums (Geranium).
Nectar Sources: Geraniums (Geranium) and a wide range of garden plants.
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- Geranium Bronze, Zadar, Croatia, July 2018
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- Geranium Bronze, Nerja, Spain, July 2020
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- Geranium Bronze, Arzua, Spain, June 2017
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- Shining Crane’s-Bill, Geranium lucidum, a probable foodplant.
