''Charaxes nobilis'', the noble white 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 ...

. The species was first described by

Herbert Druce Herbert Druce, FLS (14 July 1846, in London – 11 April 1913, in London) was an English entomologist. His collections were acquired by Frederick DuCane Godman (1834–1919), Osbert Salvin (1835–1898), and James John Joicey (1870–1932) b ...

in 1873. It is found in Guinea,

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 ...

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 ...

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, 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 ...

and

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 ...

Description

''Ch. nobilis'' Druce male: wings above black with a common cream-coloured median band, on the hindwing very broad (about 20 mm.), on the forewing gradually narrowed and terminating in cellule 3 in a free spot; the forewing in addition with a light yellow spot in cellules 5 and 7; the black marginal band of the hindwing about 9 mm. in breadth, with blue submarginal spots and marginal streaks and an orange-yellow anal spot; hindwing beneath with three thick, curved, black transverse lines beyond the middle, enclosing three rows of white spots, the middle one composed of large, the others of streak-like spots; at the anal angle a large orange-yellow spot enclosing two black eye-spots with bluish pupils. The female differs in having the median band on the upper surface much broader (on the hindwing 23–25 mm., on the forewing in cellule 2 19–20 mm.) and almost white, and bears in addition an elongate white spot in cellule 6 on the forewing above. Old Calabar, Cameroons, Congo; everywhere rare.

Biology

The habitat consists of lowland evergreen forests. Notes on the biology of ''nobilis'' are given by Schultze (1916) and Larsen (2005). Djemah Ferry Boat

Subspecies

*''Charaxes nobilis nobilis'' (southern and eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda) *''Charaxes nobilis claudei'' le Moult, 1933 (north-western Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, south-western Nigeria) Raised to a full species by Eric Vingerhoedt. *''Charaxes nobilis rosaemariae'' Rousseau-Decelle, 1934Rousseau-Decelle, G. 1934. De quelques formes nouvelles de ''Charaxes'' africains. ''Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France'' 39: 228-236. (Democratic Republic of the Congo: Lualaba, Shaba)

Taxonomy

''Charaxes nobilis'' group. The supposed clade members are: *''Charaxes nobilis'' *''

Charaxes superbus ''Charaxes superbus'', the superb white charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Nigeria, Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Camerou ...

References

;Notes ;Sources *

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 ...

, 1974 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IX. ''Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History'' (Entomology) 29 (8):415-487
Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31
Nominate

Subspecies.

External links

Images of ''C. nobilis''

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. nobilis rosaemariae''
(Albertine Rift Project)
''Charaxes nobilis'' 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 nobilis nobilis'' images
at BOLD
''Charaxes nobilis claudei'' images
at BOLD
''Charaxes nobilis rosemariae'' images ''Charaxes claudei'' images
at BOLD {{Taxonbar , from=Q13577684 Butterflies described in 1873

nobilis ''Nobilis'' is a contemporary fantasy tabletop role-playing game created by Jenna K. Moran, writing under the name R. Sean Borgstrom. The player characters are "Sovereign Powers" called ''the Nobilis''; each Noble is the personification of an ...

Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Herbert Druce