''Charaxes lucretius'', the violet-washed charaxes or common red charaxes, 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 ...

Description

''Ch. lucretius'' Cr. male. Wings above black with slight bluish reflection; forewing rust-brown in the cell and at the costal margin, beyond the middle with a nearly straight row of 8 large red-yellow spots and with similar but smaller marginal spots; hindwing beyond the middle with red-yellow, posteriorly narrower discal band and with broad red-yellow marginal band; the under surface red-brown with black transverse streaks in the basal part. In the female both wings above are smoke-brown with common whitish discal band, placed as in the male but much narrower; the marginal spots of the forewing very small or indistinct ; the marginal band of the hindwing much narrower than in the male and whitish with orange-yellow tinge; the base of the costal margin of the forewing only very narrowly red-brown; the under surface lighter than in the male and with whitish discal band, which is broader than above. In the West African forest-region from Sierra Leone to Angola and Uganda, widely distributed and very common. Similar to '' Charaxes eudoxus'' but the silvery markings on the underside are absent

Taxonomy

''Charaxes lucretius'' group: *''Charaxes lucretius'' *''

Charaxes octavus ''Charaxes octavus'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the Central African Republic. The habitat consists of tropical forests. Taxonomy Known from a single specimen from the type locality only. Probably a hybrid of '' ...

'' *'' Charaxes odysseus'' *''

Charaxes lactetinctus ''Charaxes lactetinctus'', the blue patch charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Repu ...

'' *'' Charaxes lemosi''

Subspecies

*''C. l. lucretius'' (Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, western Nigeria) *''C. l. intermedius'' van Someren, 1971 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia) *''C. l. maximus'' van Someren, 1971 (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania) *''C. l. saldanhai'' Bivar de Sousa, 1983 (north-western Angola) *''C. l. schofieldi'' Plantrou, 1989 (north-eastern Zambia) Nymphalidae - Charaxes lucretius intermedius (male - recto).JPG, ''C. l. intermedius'' - male Charaxeslucretiusintermedius.JPG, ''C. l. intermedius'' - female

Distribution and habitat

It is found in

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣� ...

, Guinea,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

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 ...

, Equatorial Guinea,

Sao Tome and Principe SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S ...

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, the Republic of the Congo,

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the C ...

, 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 ...

, Rwanda,

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Gr ...

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

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 ...

and

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are ...

. The habitat consists of primary forests.

Biology

Notes on the biology of ''lucretius'' are provided by Larsen (2005) and Larsen (1991) Larsen, T.B. 2005 ''Butterflies of West Africa''. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595 The larvae feed on ''

Annona senegalensis ''Annona senegalensis'', commonly known as African custard-apple, wild custard apple, wild soursop, ( Mandinka language), and ( Wolof language) is a species of flowering plant in the custard apple family, Annonaceae. The specific epithet, ''s ...

'', ''

Hugonia platysepala ''Hugonia'' is a genus of plant in the family Linaceae. The genus was named by Linnaeus after Augustus Johann von Hugo (1686-1760) of Hannover. Species include: * ''Hugonia deplanchei'' * ''Hugonia jenkinsii'' * ''Hugonia macrophylla'' Oliv. * ...

'' and ''

Trema Trema may refer to: * a Greek and Latin root meaning ''hole'' * ''Tréma'', a word in French meaning diaeresis ** more generally, two dots (diacritic) * ''Trema'' (plant), a genus of about 15 species of small evergreen trees * Tréma (record lab ...

'' species.

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

External links

Images of ''C. l. intermedius''

Royal Museum for Central Africa The Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA ( nl, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika or KMMA; french: Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale or MRAC; german: Königliches Museum für Zentralafrika or KMZA), also officially known as the AfricaMuse ...

(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. l. maximus''
(Albertine Rift Project)
''Charaxes lucretius'' 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 ...

''C. l. lucretius'' images
at BOLD
''C. l. maximus'' images
at BOLD {{Taxonbar, from=Q5074051 Butterflies described in 1775

lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus ( , ; – ) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem '' De rerum natura'', a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated in ...

Taxa named by Pieter Cramer