''Charaxes karkloof'', the Karkloof emperor, 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 ...

of 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 South Africa."''Charaxes'' Ochsenheimer, 1816"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' The

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

is 45–55 mm in males and 50–60 mm in females. Flight period is from October to June. Larvae feed on ''

Ochna arborea ''Elaeocarpus integrifolius'' is a species of flowering plant in the Elaeocarpaceae family. It is found only in Mauritius. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds ...

'', '' Ochna natalitia'', and ''

Ochna serrulata ''Ochna serrulata'' (commonly known as the small-leaved plane, carnival ochna, bird's eye bush, Mickey mouse plant or Mickey Mouse bush due to the plant's ripe blackfruit, which upside down resembles the ears of Mickey Mouse, and bright-red sepa ...

''. Notes on the biology of ''karkloof'' are provided by Pringle et al (1994)

Similar species

'' Charaxes ethalion '' and '' Charaxes pondoensis''

Taxonomy

''Charaxes karkloof'' is a member of the large species group ''Charaxes etheocles''

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically. *''C. k. capensis'' van Someren, 1966 .(South Africa: Eastern Cape Province) *''C. k. karkloof'' van Someren & Jackson, 1957 (South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape Province) *''C. k. trimeni'' Rydon, 1994 Rydon, AQ.H.B. 1994 Description of a new subspecies of ''Charaxes karkloof'' Van Someren and Jackson. In: Pringle et al, 1994. ''Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa'', 2ndedition: 97:197 (South Africa: Western Cape Province to Saasveld, and Hoogekraal Pass near George)

Etymology

From the type locality Karkloof in Natal

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 ...

, 1966 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part III. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)45-10

External links

''Charaxes karkloof'' 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 karkloof karkloof'' images
at BOLD
''Charaxes karkloof capensis'' images
at BOLD karkloof Butterflies described in 1957 Endemic butterflies of South Africa {{Charaxinae-stub