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''Charaxes hansali'', the cream-banded charaxes, 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 in
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
,
Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
,
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
,
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It 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 ...
,
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
,
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
,
Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
and
Oman
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
.
Description
''Ch. hansali'' Fldr. closely approaches ''
Charaxes pelias
''Charaxes pelias'', the protea emperor or protea charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, and is endemic to the Cape Provinces in South Africa.Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1963 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidopte ...
'' in the markings, but has a broad light yellow discal band extending to the inner margin of the hindwing and the basal part of the upper surface is darker black-brown; the distal yellow spots in cellules 3—7 of the forewing are small and completely separated from the band; the yellow spots at the distal margin of the hindwing are streak-like and completely separated from the distal margin by the thick black marginal line; the tails are longer than in ''pelias'' ; the light-bordered spots in the basal part of the under surface have grey centres, as in ''pelias''. Abyssinia and the adjacent parts of
Somaliland. — ''baringana'' Rothsch. only differs from the type-form in the narrower discal band of the upper surface and the free red-brown spots at the distal side of the median band on the hindwing beneath. At Lake Baringo in British East Africa.
Biology
The habitat consists of arid savanna.
The larvae feed on ''
Salvadora persica Salvadora may refer to:
* Salvadora Medina Onrubia (1894-1972), Argentine poet, anarchist, feminist
* ''Salvadora'' (snake), a genus of patchnose snakes in the family Colubridae
* ''Salvadora'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants in the fami ...
'', ''
Osyris lanceolata
''Osyris lanceolata'', also known as African sandalwood, watta bush or Camwood, is used for its scented wood and to extract essential oil. The semi-parasitic plant is found from South Africa to Zimbabwe and east Africa, including Tanzania, Keny ...
Dobera glabra
''Dobera'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Salvadoraceae.
Its native range is Eritrea to Mozambique, Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east o ...
''.Notes on the biology of ''hansali'' are provided by
Subspecies
*''C. h. hansali'' (northern, eastern and south-eastern Ethiopia, Somalia: north to the Wagga Mountains)
*''C. h. arabica'' Riley, 1931 (Oman)
*''C. h. baringana'' Rothschild, 1905 (Tanzania: southern shores of Lake Victoria, eastern Rwanda, Kenya, northern Uganda, southern Sudan, southern Ethiopia)
*''C. h. kulalae'' van Someren, 1975 (Kenya: Mount Kulal, Ethiopia: south to Nighelli)
*''C. h. '' Turlin, 1998 Turlin, B. 1998 ew African Charaxinae (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae).'' Lambillionea'' 98 (2) (Tome I): 181-189. (Yemen)
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
In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
of 27 related species sharing a common ancestor approximately 16 mya during the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), 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 mea ...
, 26 are now considered together as The ''jasius'' Group. One of the two lineages forms a robust clade of seven species sharing a common ancestor approximately 2-3 mya, i.e. during the
Charaxes jasius
''Charaxes jasius'', the two-tailed pasha, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is the only European species of the genus ''Charaxes''. Divergence of the Mediterranean species ''C. jasius'' from the last common ancestor with its closest r ...
Charaxes saturnus
''Charaxes saturnus'', the foxy charaxes or koppie charaxes, is a butterfly that flies through most of the Savannah of the Eastern and Southern Afrotropical realm, and also occurs in suitable forest habitat locations including the forest belt of ...
Charaxes pelias
''Charaxes pelias'', the protea emperor or protea charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, and is endemic to the Cape Provinces in South Africa.Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1963 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidopte ...
''
*'' Charaxes castor''
*''Charaxes hansali''
Clade 2: contains the well-populated three additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group, called the ''brutus'', ''pollux'', and ''eudoxus'' subgroups. Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing ''Charaxes'' taxa is required to improve clarity.
References
*
Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren
Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren (1886 in Melbourne – 24 July 1976) was a zoologist and entomologist. Van Someren was born in Australia. He attended George Watson's College and studied zoology at University of Edinburgh. He was also a dentis ...
, 1971 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VII. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)181-22
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 ...