butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...
in the family
Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a re ...
. It is found in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...
brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Ser ...
'' 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.
''Charaxes junius'' Oberthür, 1880 is treated as a subspecies of ''
brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Ser ...
'' (Cramer, 1779) by Van Someren Henning treats ''junius'' as a distinct species on the authority of Plantrou (1983). Plantrou , J. 1983. Systematique biogeographique et evolution des Charaxes Africains (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). ''Publications du Laboratoire de Zoologie, Ecole Normale Superieure'' (25): 1-456
Related species
Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "''Charaxes jasius'' Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision, 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
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...
, 26 are now considered together as The ''jasius'' Group. One of the two lineages within this clade forms a robust
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...
group of seven species sharing a common ancestor approximately 2-3 mya, i.e. during the
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58"Out of Africa again: A phylogenetic hypothesis of the genus ''Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)'' based on five gene regions" Aduse-Poku, Vingerhoedt, Wahlberg. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2009) 53;463–478 and are considered as the ''jasius'' subgroup. The second lineage leads to 19 other species within the Jasius group, which are split in to three well-populated subgroups of closely related species.
The ''jasius'' Group (26 Species).
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.
*the ''brutus'' subgroup (4 Species)
*''
Charaxes brutus
__NOTOC__
''Charaxes brutus'', the white-barred emperor or white-barred Charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Africa (see subspecies section for detailed information).
Its flight period is year-round. Notes on the ...
Charaxes andara
''Charaxes andara'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in eastern and southern Madagascar, where it is found in Afrotropical forests.
It is very similar to ''Charaxes brutus'', of which it has been considered a subspecies.
De ...
''
Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing ''Charaxes'' taxa is required to improve clarity.
References
* van Someren, V.G.L. 1970 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)197-25 page 218 and plate 4,figure 33
Consortium for the Barcode of Life
The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...