''Acraea mahela'' is a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

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 ha ...

. It is found on

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

Description

''A. mahela'' Bdv. (53 c). Both wings thinly scaled, with light ochre-yellow ground-colour; fore wing diaphanous in the distal part as far as the discal dots and with distinct discal dots in 1 b to 6, a transverse streak at the end of the cell and a dot in the cell; hindwing with free basal and discal dots and small black spots at the distal margin on the extremities of the veins, both surfaces quite similarly coloured and marked. The sexes are quite similar. Madagascar.

Biology

The habitat consists of transformed grasslands and anthropogenic environments.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the ''

Acraea terpsicore ''Acraea terpsicore'', the tawny coster, is a small, , leathery-winged butterfly common in grassland and scrub habitats. It belongs to the Nymphalidae or brush-footed butterfly family. It has a weak fluttery flight. It is avoided by most insect p ...

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

- but see also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 Pierre & Bernau, 2014 Classification et Liste Synonymique des Taxons du Genre ''Acraea'
pdf
/ref> *''Acraea'' (group ''horta) mahela'' Henning, 1993, ''Metamorphosis'' 4 (1): 8 *''Acraea'' (''Acraea'') (subgroup ''horta'') ''mahela''; Pierre & Bernaud, 2013, ''Butterflies of the World'' 39: 6, pl. 18, f. 5-6

References

External links

Images representing ''Acraea mahela''
at Bold Butterflies described in 1833 mahela Endemic fauna of Madagascar Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Boisduval {{Heliconiinae-stub