Charaxes eupale, the common green charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi.[4]

Charaxes eupale
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. eupale
Binomial name
Charaxes eupale
(Drury, 1782)[1][2]
Synonyms
  • Papilio eupale Drury, 1782
  • Papilio amasia Fabricius, 1793
  • Charaxes schultzei Röber, 1936
  • Charaxes eupale f. citrinella Rousseau-Decelle, 1938
  • Charaxes eupale f. inornata Storace, 1948
  • Charaxes dilutus veneris White & Grant, 1989
  • Charaxes dilutus kasitu White & Grant, 1989[3]
  • Charaxes dilutus ngonga van Someren, 1974[3]

Biology

edit

eupale is the most common forest charaxes [5] The habitat consists of lowland evergreen forests.

The larvae feed on Scutia myrtina, Albizia gummifera, Albizia zygia, Albizia adianthifolia and Cathormion species.

Notes on the biology of eupale are given by Larsen, T.B. (1991) [6]

The green colouration is produced by pigments as opposed to being produced structurally, which is common in most green butterflies.

Description

edit

A full description is given by Rothschild, W. And Jordan, K., 1900 Novitates Zoologicae Volume 7:510 et seq. [1] (for terms see Novitates Zoologicae Volume 5:545-601 [2])

Subspecies

edit
  • Charaxes eupale eupale (Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria)
  • Charaxes eupale latimargo Joicey & Talbot, 1921 [7](south-eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, northern Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania)
  • Charaxes eupale veneris White & Grant, 1989[8] (Malawi, Tanzania, northern Zambia)

Similar species

edit

Similar to Charaxes dilutus but apical green patch darker and hind wing with a dark green margin [9]

Charaxes eupale is in the Charaxes eupale species group (clade) The clade members are:

Bouyer et al., 2008 erected the genus Viridixes Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, 2008 to accommodate species belonging to the eupale species group.[10]

Realm

edit

Afrotropical realm

References

edit
  1. ^ Drury, D. 1782. Illustrations of Natural History 3: xxvi, 1-769 + 2pp. London
  2. ^ "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. ^ a b Bouyer, Zakharov, Rougerie & Vingerhoedt , 2008 Les Charaxes du "groupe eupale" : Description d'un nouveau genre, révision et approche génétique (Lépidoptera, Nymphalidae, Charaxinae) Entomologia Africana Hors série n°3, 2008.
  4. ^ "Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
  5. ^ Larsen, T.B. 2005 Butterflies of West Africa. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
  6. ^ Larsen, T.B. 1991 The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxii, 1-490.
  7. ^ Joicey , J.J., & Talbot, G. 1921. New Lepidoptera collected by Mr. T.A. Barns in east central Africa. Bulletin of the Hill Museum, Witley 1: 40-166.
  8. ^ White, R.S., & Grant, T.A. 1989. Descriptions of two new subspecies of Charaxes dilutus Rothschild from Malawi (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Lambillionea 89 (3-4): 35-39.
  9. ^ Kielland, J. 1990 Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.
  10. ^ Bouyer, T.; Zakharov, E.V.; Rougerie, R.; Vingerhoedt, E. (2008). "Les Charaxes du groupe eupale: description d'un nouveau genre, révision et approche génétique (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Charaxinae)". Entomologia Africana. Hors Série No. 3: 1–32.
edit