''Acraea semivitrea'', the glassy acraea, is a

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

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...

, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

, western

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and north-western

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Description

''A. semivitrea'' Auriv. (27 b). Forewing diaphanous with fine black veins and black margins; the broad marginal band forms on its proximal side triangular black spots on veins 2-5. Hindwing above at the base black-brown with black dots and at the distal margin with a broad black band, between these with light median band, widened at the inner margin, sulphur-yellow in cellules la, lb, 1 c and 2 and often also in the cell, but in the other cellules diaphanous. On the under surface all the black parts of the upperside are bright light yellow; the black streaks on the interneural folds are proximally thickened, distally pointed, and often do not quite reach the distal margin; cell with 2 or 3, cellule 7 with 1 or 2 black dots; cellules 2-6 without discal dots. Congo to Uganda

Biology

The habitat consists of sub-montane and lowland forests. Adult males

mud-puddle Mud-puddling, or simply puddling, is a behaviour most conspicuous in butterflies, but occurs in other animals as well, mainly insects; they seek out nutrients in certain moist substances such as rotting plant matter, mud and carrion and they suc ...

and are attracted to dung. The larvae feed on ''

Urera trinervis ''Urera trinervis'' ( Hochst.) Friis & Immelman is a softly woody dioecious liane, sometimes epiphytic, climbing to 20 m, often to the canopy and hanging in festoons. It is one of some 44 species of ''Urera'' belonging to the nettle family Urtic ...

''.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the ''

Acraea circeis ''Acraea circeis'', the white acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Bioko, the Republic of the Congo, northern Angola and the south-western part of the Democ ...

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>

References

External links

''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 57
''b''
Images representing ''Acraea semivitrea''
at

Bold In typography, emphasis is the strengthening of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text, to highlight them. It is the equivalent of prosody stress in speech. Methods and use The most common methods in ...

.
''Acraea semivitrea''
at Pteron Butterflies described in 1895 semivitrea Butterflies of Africa {{Heliconiinae-stub