Belenois creona, the African common white or African caper, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in the Afrotropical realm.
African common white | |
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Female in wet season | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Pieridae |
Genus: | Belenois |
Species: | B. creona
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Binomial name | |
Belenois creona (Cramer, 1776)
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Subspecies | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
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Description
editThe wingspan is 40–45 mm. The sexes are dimorphic.
Males
editUppersides are white with black or brown marginal borders and veins in forewing apex. There is a black spot in the upperside cell, instead of a bar as in the brown-veined white (B. aurota).
Females
editFemales have broader dark upperside borders on both wings. Underwings are yellow during the wet season.[1]
Ecology
editSubspecies
editThe following subspecies are recognised:[2]
- B. c. creona (Senegal to Nigeria, Sudan, east Ethiopia)
- B. c. benadirensis (in Somalia)
- B. c. boguensis Ethiopia
- B. c. elisa (on the Comoros)
- B. c. leucogyne (on the Arabian Peninsula)
- B. c. prorsus (on Madagascar)
- B. c. severina (South Africa to east Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
References
editWikimedia Commons has media related to Belenois creona.
- ^ Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
- ^ Belenois at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
External links
edit- Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 13
- Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 12