Swainson, 1830 subtribe iolaina riley, 1958 Iolaus pallene. Photo courtesy Jeremy Dobson

"Egg: 0.8 mm diam. x 0.5 mm high. Laid singly on leaves or twigs of the food-plant. Eggs hatch after 7 days. The discarded shell is not eaten. Larva: 1st instar 1.5 mm, growing to 3 mm in 4 days; 2nd instar growing to 5-6 mm in 4 days; 3rd instar growing to 11 mm in 6 days; 4th instar growing to 22 mm in 9-10 days. Both honey-gland and tubercles are present in the 2nd to 4th instars, but the latter are very small and are sluggish in action. Larvae at first eat out troughs in the leaves and occupy the part eaten out, with their body, but in later instars feed on the edge of the leaf, starting at the tip and eating right down to the stalk. Larvae, especially in the final instar, have a highly polished appearance, the setae being minute. White portions of the larvae are semi-transparent. The honey-gland appears as an unadorned dorsal slit. Pupa: 13.5 mm (male) - 15 mm (female). Attached to twigs, head downward, looking like a small broken twig or dead bud. It taps violently against the twig when disturbed, being securely held to the latter by the cremastral hooks, entangled in a silken mat. The imago has been known to emerge after some two weeks, but the pupa period may extend to 10-11 months. Parasites: Egg attacked by small Chalcids (judging by a small exit hole in the shell)." "There is more than one brood, with hibernation during dry periods." "Recorded from eggs from near Pretoria."

"Mullin has recorded larvae from the Great Dyke Pass, west of Harare in Zimbabwe, feeding on immature flower heads."