Charaxes Latona
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''Charaxes latona'', the orange emperor, is a butterfly of the rajahs and nawabs group, i.e. 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. It is native to the tropical rainforests of eastern
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
, western
Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from New Guinea in the west to the Fiji Islands in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Vanu ...
and far northern Queensland,
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, where it is limited to the
Iron Range The Iron Range is collectively or individually a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by the Giants ...
.


Technical description

''Charaxes latona'' Butler, ''Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.'' male, female Body above tawny orange, rather darker in front than behind; below more tawny at sides, but paler in middle; middle or sterna and tip of anterior tarsi pale buff; femora buffish white, speckled with black scales; underside of palpi whitish buff, paler than middle of prosternum. Male: Winqs above slightly paler than thorax, both with a broad black border, or the discal luniform markings of the forewing and the post-discosubmarginal patches of the hindwing isolated, with intergradations. Underside deeper fulvous than the upperside, less orange, sometimes partly slate-colour, the bars well-defined. Forewing : row of median bars R-SM2 oblique, hence discal interspace R2-SM2 narrower behind than at R2, bar R3- M1 just behind bar R2-R3, or very little more proximal, bars M2-SM2 resembling in shape the number 3, seldom less pointed at (SM1); median bars SC3-R2 continuous, forming an angle upon R1 and reaching R2 midway between median and discal bars R2-R3; discal bars fulvous brown or black, well defined, deeply and regularly arched, continuous, prolonged distad upon the veins; the post-discosubmarginal patches seldom distinct, the paler scaling within them developed costally to some silvery white patches. Hindwing : median bar R3-M1 1 or 2 mm. beyond origin of M1, bar M1-M2 exactly behind it or very little more proximal or distal, bar R2-R3 just in front of it, seldom more proximal; discal bars strongly arched, conspicuous, the series curving distad in middle, hence more parallel to outer edge of wing than in the other fulvous ''Charaxes''; black and blue submarginal dots convex outwardly, admarginal fulvous brown bars arched, hence the paler admarginal interspaces, at the outerside of those dots, much narrowed midway between the veins, being here not wider than, scarcely as wide as, the black dots; upper tail variable in length, triangular, second a mere tooth. Female: Larger than male; wings broader, paler, but basal region often darker; upper tail longer, but sometimes very short, triangular or of nearly even width, not spatulate, second tail always very much shorter than the first. Wings, upperside : forewing, median bars R2-M1 always marked, bar M1-M2 also frequently present, median bars SC5-R2 generally developed to triangular patches; discal bar deeply incurved, more or less arrowhead-shaped, especially bar R2-R3, black or fulvous, prolonged distad at the veins, these luniform markings in nearly the same position as the discal lunules of the underside, the latter markings, therefore, not shining through above, or the discal lunules of the upperside are partly a little more proximal than those of the underside (in the allied species the reverse is the case); post-discosubmarginal patches more or less ovate, 2 to 7 mm. in diameter, patch SC4-SC5 the largest, black or brownish black, separate from the black, or blackish brown, edge of the wing, but sometimes the admarginal interspace, except the last ones, so densely shaded with black that the rounded outer edge of the spots is scarcely traceable;discal and postdiscal interspaces paler than the basal area of the wing, sometimes white. Hindwing : median bars C-R1 seldom absent, the following two or three seldom present; bar D present only in a few forms; discal luniform bars present in some subspecies, in the subspecies from New Hanover very heavy; post-discosubmarginal patches ovate, the second the largest, the white submarginal dots within them sometimes absent from the upper patches. Underside paler than in male, the submedian, discal, postdiscal and admarginal interspaces of both wings especially pale, bars as in male, discal ones of forewing more arched, the discal interspaces of both wings with fulvous yellow or blackish scaling distally, this scaling forming triangular patches which arc distally bordered by the discal lunules. Length of forewing : male38-45 mm. female, 47–57 mm.Rothschild, W. and Jordan, K. (1898). A monograph of Charaxes and the allied prionopterous genera. Novitates Zoologicae 1900 Volume 7:287-524. Descriptions and plates (monochrome photos).


Biology

They fly all year and may complete several generations annually. Males are territorial and occupy perches some 6m up in forest trees, while females frequent forest edges and clearings. Their food plant is '' Cryptocarya triplinervis''.


Subspecies

*''Charaxes latona latona'' ( Bacan) *''Charaxes latona artemis'' Rothschild, 1900 ( Sula) *''Charaxes latona aruanus'' Butler, 1872 ( Aru) *''Charaxes latona brennus'' C. & R. Felder, 867/small> (
Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coa ...
) *''Charaxes latona diana'' Rothschild, 1898 ( New Hannover) *''Charaxes latona gigantea'' Hagen, 1897 (eastern Papua New Guinea) *''Charaxes latona grandis'' Hanafusa, 1989 ( Morotai) *''Charaxes latona insignis'' Hanafusa, 1991 (
Moluccas The Maluku Islands ( ; , ) or the Moluccas ( ; ) are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located in West Melanesi ...
) *''Charaxes latona layardi'' Butler, 1896 (
Bismarck archipelago The Bismarck Archipelago (, ) is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. Its area is about . History The first inhabitants of the archipela ...
) *''Charaxes latona leto'' Rothschild, 1898 (
d'Entrecasteaux Islands D'Entrecasteaux Islands () are situated near the eastern tip of New Guinea in the Solomon Sea in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The group spans a distance of , has a total land area of approximately and is separated from the Papua New G ...
) *''Charaxes latona marcia'' Joicey & Noakes, 1915 (
Biak Biak is the main island of Biak Archipelago located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua (province), Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak has many atolls, reefs, and corals. The largest popula ...
) *''Charaxes latona meridionalis'' Rothschild, 1900 (south-eastern Papua New Guinea) *''Charaxes latona ombiranus'' Rothschild, 1900 ( Obi) *''Charaxes latona papuensis'' Butler, 1869 (
Irian Jaya New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Austral ...
) *''Charaxes latona stephanus'' Rothschild, 1900 (north-eastern Papua New Guinea)


References

latona In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Leto (; ) is a childhood goddess, the daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, the sister of Asteria, and the mother of Apollo and Artemis.Hesiod, ''Theogony'404–409/ref> In the Olympian scheme, t ...
Butterflies of Oceania Butterflies of Indonesia Butterflies described in 1866 Taxa named by Arthur Gardiner Butler Lepidoptera of New Guinea {{Charaxinae-stub