Charaxes Numenes

''Charaxes numenes'', the lesser blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

Description

''Ch. numenes'' Hew. (31 c). Tails of the hindwing short. Hindwing beneath somewhat beyond the middle with a continuous, fine, gently curved, black transverse line, distally bordered with white, almost exactly as in '' violetta''. In this these two species differ from all the rest of the '' tiridates'' group. Male, wings above bluish black, at the base black-brown; forewing in the middle with four small blue spots in the basal part of cellules 2-5 and usually also behind the middle with a transverse row of blue dots; marginal spots distinct, ochre-yellow. Hindwing beyond the middle with a row of blue dots, incurved in cellule 6; small whitish submarginal spots and fine whitish marginal streaks. The female agrees almost entirely with that of ''tiridates'' Sierra Leone to Angola and Uganda. - ''neumanni'' Rothsch. has larger yellow marginal spots on both wings and somewhat
longer tail-appendages on the hindwing; Abyssinia.

Biology

The habitat consists of evergreen lowland forests.

The larvae feed on ''Hugonia platysepela'', ''Grewia mollis'', ''Grewia forbesi'', ''Grewia trichocarpa'', ''Deinbollia fulvotomentella'', ''Erythrina abyssinica'', ''Erythrina excelsa'', ''Allophylus'', ''Blighia unijugata'' and '' Phialodiscus unijugatus''.

Subspecies

*''Charaxes numenes numenes'' (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, western Nigeria)
*''Charaxes numenes aequatorialis'' van Someren, 1972 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Central African Republic, southern Sudan, Uganda, western Kenya, western Tanzania)
*''Charaxes numenes malabo'' Turlin, 1998 (Bioko)
*''Charaxes numenes neumanni'' Rothschild, 1902 (southern and western Ethiopia)

File:Charaxes numenes MHNT male dos.jpg, Male - dorsal side
File:Charaxes numenes MHNT male ventre.jpg, Male - ventral side
File:Charaxes numenes MHNT femelle dos.jpg, Female - dorsal side
File:Charaxes numenes MHNT femelle ventre.jpg, Female - ventral side

Taxonomy

''Charaxes tiridates'' group.

The supposed clade members are:

*'' Charaxes tiridates''
*''Charaxes numenes'' - similar to next
*'' Charaxes bipunctatus'' - similar to last
*''Charaxes violetta''
*''Charaxes mixtus''
*'' Charaxes bubastis''
*'' Charaxes albimaculatus''
*'' Charaxes barnsi''
*''Charaxes bohemani''
*'' Charaxes schoutedeni''
*''Charaxes monteiri''
*''Charaxes smaragdalis''
*''Charaxes xiphares''
*'' Charaxes cithaeron''
*''Charaxes nandina''
*''Charaxes imperialis''
*''Charaxes ameliae''
*''Charaxes pythodoris''
*? ''Charaxes overlaeti''
For a full list see Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013.

References

*
*

Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31
*Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1972 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VIII. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)215-26

also as ''Charaxes albimaculatus''

External links

Images of ''C. n. aequatorialis''
Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. n. numenes''
(Albertine Rift Project)
''C. n. neumanni'' images
at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
''C. n. aequatorialis''
at BOLD

Butterflies described in 1859
numenes

{{Charaxinae-stub