Charaxes fulgurata

Charaxes fulgurata
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Charaxes
Species:	C. fulgurata
Binomial name
Charaxes fulgurata Aurivillius, 1899 .[1] [2]
Synonyms
Charaxes fulgurata var. ephyra Godart; Dewitz, 1887 Charaxes etheocles etheocles f. lunigera Rothschild, 1900 Charaxes fulgurata f. mima Riley, 1921

Charaxes fulgurata, the lightning charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in northern Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Lualaba, Lomami), north-western Zimbabwe and Zambia.[3]

Description

Forewing above with large marginal spots and 3—7 strongly curved submarginal spots, the extremities of which reach the marginal spots; in addition with 2 or 3 discal spots and a spot in the cell. Hindwing with fine postdiscal lunules and thick marginal streaks, in cellules 4—6 dotted with red. Under surface light reddish brown. Angola[4] There are at least two distinctive female forms.[5]

Biology

The habitat consists of Brachystegia woodland and savanna woodland.

Adults have been observed feeding on elephant dung.

The larvae feed on Erythrophleum africanum and Amblygonocarpus andongensis.

Taxonomy

Charaxes fulgurata is a member of the large species group Charaxes etheocles.

References

1. Aurivillius , [P.O.]C. 1899. Rhopalocera Aethiopica. Die Tagfalter des aethiopischen Faunengebietes: eine Systematische-Geographische Studie. Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar 31 (5): 1-561.
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 2012-05-24.
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. Pringle et al , 1994. Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa, 2nd edition

• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1966 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part III. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 45-101.[1]

External links

• Charaxes fulgurata images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• Images of C. fulgurata Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)