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

. The species was first described by

Herbert Druce Herbert Druce, Linnean Society, 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 (187 ...

in 1873. It is found in

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

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

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Nigeria Nigeria, 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 Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

, the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

, the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

, the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

and

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 ...

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 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 ...

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, Gabon, the north-western part of the Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Description ''Ch. superbu ...

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 (RMCA) (; ; ), communicating under the name AfricaMuseum since 2018, is an ethnography and natural history museum situated in Tervuren in Flemish Brabant, Belgium, just outside Brussels. It was originally b ...

(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. Early editions were published under Moran's previous names, Rebecca Sean Borgstrom and R. Sean Borgstrom. The player characters are "Sovereign Powers" ...

Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Herbert Druce