Parnara monasi, the water watchman or water skipper, is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. It is found in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Burkina FasoTom Jamonneau, Abubakar S Ringim, Michel Libert, Andrea C Reyes Camargo, Alain Coache, Jérémy Bouyer, Annotated checklist of the butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) of Burkina Faso, West Africa—synthesis and new occurrences, Journal of Insect Science, Volume 26, Issue 3, May 2026, ieag018, https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/ieag018, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa (Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal) and Eswatini. The habitat consists of marshes, grassy river-banks and riverine forests in savanna settings.
The wingspan is 30–33 mm for males. Adults are on wing year round but are most common from January to May.
The larvae feed on Saccharum species, Andropogon canaliculatus and Imperata cylindrica.
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