Charaxes hadrianus
| Charaxes hadrianus | |
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| Charaxes hadrianus, upperside | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Charaxes |
| Species: | C. hadrianus
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| Binomial name | |
| Charaxes hadrianus | |
| Synonyms | |
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Charaxes hadrianus, the Hadrian's white charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.This is a very rare charaxes, especially in West Africa. Individuals come to fruit-baited traps.[3] Schultze states that freshly captured males emit a smell of violets.[4]
Taxonomy
[edit]Charaxes hadrianus is the sole member of the Charaxes hadrianus group. The type locality is Cameroun.
Distribution and habitat
[edit]This species can be found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, south-western Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Uganda.[2][5][6] The habitat consists of wet primary forests.
Description
[edit]
Charaxes hadrianus has a wingspan reaching about 90 millimetres (3.5 in). The upperside of the forewings is white, with a brown basal area and a black apical part showing several white spots. The underside of the forewings is grey, with a large black eyespot. The upperside of the hindwings is white, with black outer margins. The underside of the hindwings is crossed vertically midway by a red band, with a row of small black spot on the outer margin.[7]
Description in Seitz
[edit]Hadrianus Group. This group is only represented by a single species of characteristic appearance. Hindwing above and both wings beneath with white ground-colour. The black transverse streaks in the basal part of the under surface are very fine and in part indistinct or entirely suppressed; in cellule lb of the forewing near the hinder angle a large, deep black spot. The tails of the hindwing are obtuse, the one at vein 2 about 2 mm., that at vein 4 nearly 5 mm. in length. Sexes alike in colour and markings. Ch. hadrianus Ward Forewing at the base red-brown nearly to vein 3, then black with a white median band, at the hindmargin about 15 mm. in breadth, but rapidly narrowing anteriorly and terminating at vein 5, with two small white discal spots in cellules 5 and 6, white submarginal spots in 2-6 and a white marginal spot in lb. Hindwing above narrowly red-brown at the base, with black submarginal and marginal streaks at the distal margin. Beneath the hindwing has in the middle a thick black transverse line, distally accompanied by a deeply dentate red-brown transverse band; this transverse band shows through above. A beautiful but rare species, occurring from the Niger to the Congo.[8]
Biology
[edit]The larvae feed on Ouratea species (Ouratea reticulata)[2] and Ochna species.
References
[edit]
- ^ Ward, C., 1871. Descriptions of new species of diurnal lepidoptera from Madagascar Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 8: 120 (34-36, 58-60, 81-82, 118-122)
- ^ a b c "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
- ^ Larsen, T.B. 2005 Butterflies of West Africa. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark
- ^ Schultze, A. 1916. Die Charaxiden und Apaturiden der Kolonie Kamerun. Archiv für Biontologie 4: 83-129.
- ^ "Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
- ^ African Butterfly Database
- ^ The Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine – Vol. VII
- ^ Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Gross-Schmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31
- Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1972 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VIII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)215-264.[1]