''Charaxes bernardus'', the tawny rajah, is a butterfly that belongs to the rajahs and nawabs group, that is, the

Charaxinae __NOTOC__ The Charaxinae, the leafwings, are a nymphalid subfamily of butterflies that includes about 400 species, inhabiting mainly the tropics, although some species extend into temperate regions in North America, Europe, China, and southern ...

group of the

brush-footed butterflies 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 ...

family. This species can be found in India, China, Indomalaya, and onwards to Indonesia.''Charaxes bernardus''
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''

Description

''Charaxes bernardus'' has a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

of about . The upperside of wings is reddish brown or pale brown-orange, with dark brown/black speckles at the wings tips and small black marks at the margin of the hindwings. On the underside of the wings there are irregular wavy or tawny brown speckles and whitish zigzag bands. Males and females are very similar in appearance.Gallery of Bengkulu
/ref>

Habits

It has been recorded as a migrant in South India and is known to

mud-puddle Puddling is a behaviour in which an organism seeks out nutrients in certain moist substances such as rotting plant matter, mud, and carrion, and sucks up the fluid. Where the conditions are suitable, conspicuous insects such as butterflies common ...

Food plants

Known food plants of this species include: '' Aglaia lawii'', ''

Aglaia roxburghiana Aglaia, Aglaea, Aglaïa, Aglaja, or Aglaya (Ἀγλαΐα) is an ancient Greek female name and may refer to: People and mythical figures * Aglaia or Aglaea (mythology) ** Aglaia (Grace), one of the Charites in Greek mythology * Saint Aglaia of ...

'' (

Meliaceae Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs (and a few herbaceous plants, mangroves) in the order Sapindales. They are characterised by alternate, usually pinnate leaves without stipules, and by syncarp ...

), ''

Cinnamomum camphora ''Camphora officinarum'' is a species of evergreen tree indigenous to warm temperate to subtropical regions of East Asia, including countries such as China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. It is known by various names, most notably the camph ...

'', ''

Litsea glutinosa ''Litsea glutinosa'' is a rainforest tree in the laurel family, Lauraceae. Common names include soft bollygum, bolly beech, Bollywood, bollygum, brown bollygum, brown Bollywood, sycamore and brown beech. The powdered bark, known as jigat, may b ...

'', ''

Litsea populifolia ''Litsea'' is a genus of evergreen or deciduous trees or shrubs belonging to the laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes a large number of accepted species in tropical and subtropical areas of North America and Asia. Characteristics They a ...

'' (

Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that includes the bay laurel, true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genus (biology), genera worldwide. They are dicotyled ...

), ''

Sapium sebiferum ''Triadica sebifera'' is a tree native to eastern Asia (Chinese 乌桕, wū jiù). It is commonly called Chinese tallow, Chinese tallowtree, Florida aspen, chicken tree, gray popcorn tree, or candleberry tree. The seeds (as well as from those o ...

'' (

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae (), the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of Euphorbia, the type genus of the family. Most spurges, such as ''Euphorbia paralias'', ar ...

), ''

Adenanthera pavonina ''Adenanthera pavonina'' is a Perennial plant, perennial and non-climbing species of leguminous tree. Its uses include food and drink, traditional medicine, and timber. Common names Common names for ''Adenanthera pavonina'' include Acacia co ...

'', ''Paraserianthes falcataria'' (= ''

Falcataria moluccana ''Falcataria falcata'' (syns. Albizia falcata, Falcataria moluccana and Paraserianthes falcataria), commonly known as the Moluccan albizia, is a species of fast-growing tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, ...

''), ''

Tamarindus indica Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the f ...

'' (

Leguminosae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

), and ''

Acronychia penduculata ''Acronychia'' is a genus of about fifty species of plants in the rue family Rutaceae. The leaves are simple or pinnate, and the flowers bisexual with four sepals, four petals and eight stamens. They have a broad distribution including in India, ...

'' (

Rutaceae The Rutaceae () is a family (biology), family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in Bo ...

).nhm.ac.uk Caterpillar Host-Plant Database
/ref>

Subspecies

*''Charaxes bernardus bernardus'' – present in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

*''Charaxes bernardus acolus'' Fruhstorfer – eastern

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

*''Charaxes bernardus agna'' Moore, 1878 – in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

*''Charaxes bernardus ajax'' Fawcett, 1897 – western

*''Charaxes bernardus bajula'' Staudinger, 1889 –

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

*''Charaxes bernardus baliensis'' Joicey & Talbot, 1922 –

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

*''Charaxes bernardus basilisae'' Schröder & Treadaway, 1982 –

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

*''Charaxes bernardus baya'' (Moore, 1857) –

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and

*''Charaxes bernardus crepax'' Fruhstorfer, 1914 –

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

*''Charaxes bernardus cybistia'' Fruhstorfer *''Charaxes bernardus enganicus'' Fruhstorfer, 1904 *''Charaxes bernardus hainanus'' Gu, 1994 –

Hainan Hainan is an island provinces of China, province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally mean ...

*''Charaxes bernardus hemana'' Butler, 1870 –

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

*''Charaxes bernardus hierax'' C. & R. Felder, 867–

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

and southern

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

. *''Charaxes bernardus hindia'' Butler, 1872 *''Charaxes bernardus kangeanensis'' Hanafusa, 1990Hanafusa, 1990: Ten new subspecies of Indonesian butterflies (Lep. Papilionidae, Satyridae, Nymphalidae). ''Futao'' 4: 12-15. *''Charaxes bernardus mahawedi'' Fruhstorfer – northern

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

*''Charaxes bernardus mirabilis'' Hanafusa, 1989 *''Charaxes bernardus mitschkei'' Lathy, 1913 –

Nias Nias (, Nias: ''Tanö Niha'') is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, but also includes the Batu Islands to the southeast and the small ...

*''Charaxes bernardus phlegontis'' Fruhstorfer *''Charaxes bernardus repetitus'' Butler, 1896 –

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

*''Charaxes bernardus siporanus'' Hanafusa, 1992Hanafusa, H. 1992: Three new Nymphalid butterflies from Indonesia. ''Futao'' 9: 1-3. *''Charaxes bernardus siporaensis'' ( Hanafusa, 1992) *''Charaxes bernardus varenius'' Fruhstorfer File:Charaxespolyxena.jpg, ''C. b. phlegontis'' File:Open wing position of Charaxes bernardus Fabricius, 1793 – Tawny Rajah (2).jpg, ''C. b. hierax'' (upperside) File:Nymphalidae - Charaxes bernardus hierax.JPG, ''C. b. hierax'' (underside) File:Charaxes bernardus mahawedi.jpg, ''C. b. mahawedi'' File:Tawny Rajah Malaysia.jpg, Gua Tempurung, Malaysia

Notes

References

* * * * * *

External links

''Charaxes bernardus'' images
at

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 ...

''Charaxes bernardus crepax'' images
at BOLD {{Taxonbar, from=Q2715965 Butterflies of Malaysia Butterflies of Indochina Bernardus Fauna of Sumatra Butterflies described in 1793 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies of Java Butterflies of Borneo Lepidoptera of India Lepidoptera of the Philippines

Description

Habits

Food plants

Subspecies

See also

Notes

References

External links