Charaxes junius is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Ethiopia and Sudan.[3] The habitat consists of forests and woodland savanna.

Charaxes junius
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. junius
Binomial name
Charaxes junius
Synonyms
  • Charaxes brutus f. ragazzii Storace, 1948

Description

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Charaxes junius is distinguished from brutus by having the discal band on the upper surface light yellow and in cellule 1 b of the forewing 6–1 mm. in breadth. Abyssinia. - — somalicus Rothsch. only differs from junius in the somewhat narrower median band on both wings. Somaliland.[4]

Subspecies

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  • Charaxes junius junius (western and south-western Ethiopia)
  • Charaxes junius somalicus Rothschild, 1900[5] (southern Ethiopia, south-eastern Sudan)

Taxonomy

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Charaxes junius Oberthür, 1880 is treated as a subspecies of brutus (Cramer, 1779) by Van Someren [6] Henning treats junius as a distinct species on the authority of Plantrou (1983).[7][8]

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Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "Charaxes jasius Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision,[9] corroborated by phylogenetic research, allow a more rational grouping congruent with cladistic relationships. Within a well-populated clade of 27 related species sharing a common ancestor approximately 16 mya during the Miocene,[10] 26 are now considered together as The jasius Group.[9] One of the two lineages within this clade forms a robust monophyletic group of seven species sharing a common ancestor approximately 2-3 mya, i.e. during the Pliocene,[10] and are considered as the jasius subgroup.[9] The second lineage leads to 19 other species within the Jasius group, which are split into three well-populated subgroups of closely related species.

The jasius Group (26 Species).[9]

Clade 1: the jasius subgroup.

Clade 2: contains the three well-populated additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group, called the brutus, pollux, and eudoxus subgroups.[9]

Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing Charaxes taxa is required to improve clarity.

References

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  1. ^ Oberthur, C. 1880. Spedizione italiana nell’Africa equatoriale. Risultati zoologici. 1. Lepidotteri. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria 15: 129-186.
  2. ^ "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. ^ "Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  4. ^ Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, 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.
  5. ^ Rothschild, 1900 in Rothschild, W., & Jordan, K. 1900. A monograph of Charaxes and the allied prionopterous genera. Novitates Zoologicae 7: [i-iv], 287-524.
  6. ^ Van Someren 1970. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 25:197-250
  7. ^ Henning, S.F. 1988 [1989]. The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa. Aloe Books, Johannesburg, 1-457.
  8. ^ Plantrou , J. 1983. Systematique biogeographique et evolution des Charaxes Africains (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). Publications du Laboratoire de Zoologie, Ecole Normale Superieure (25): 1-456
  9. ^ a b c d e Turlin, B. (2005). Bauer & Frankenbach (ed.). Butterflies of the World: Charaxes 1. Vol. 22. Keltern: Goecke & Evers. pp. 2–3. ISBN 3937783156.
  10. ^ a b "Out of Africa again: A phylogenetic hypothesis of the genus Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based on five gene regions" Archived 2019-07-25 at the Wayback Machine. Aduse-Poku, Vingerhoedt, Wahlberg. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2009) 53;463–478
  • van Someren, V.G.L. 1970 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)197-250.[1] page 218 and plate 4,figure 33
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