Charaxes Smaragdalis

''Charaxes smaragdalis'', the western blue charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found from Senegal to Somalia, from Angola to Kenya and from Sudan to Egypt.

The butterfly's wingspan is 85 to 100 mm. Adults are black with white and blue bands and spots. The hindwings each have two little tails.

Description

''Ch. smaragdalis'' Btlr. Both wings above from the base to the apex of the cell black with greenish or bluish reflection, then follows in the male a blue half-band, about 10 mm. in breadth, between the hindmargin and vein 2 or 3 and in each cellule from 3—7 two very widely separated spots, all blue except the distal ones in cellules 6 and 7; in the female there is in the middle a white transverse band, 7 mm. in breadth, running obliquely from the costal margin towards the hinder angle and reaching vein 1; the outer row of spots, which runs almost parallel with the distal margin in the male, is almost identical in the female. The hindwing has
behind the apex of the cell a blue transverse band 12 (male)—15 (female) mm. in breadth and is black at the distal margin with blue-white submarginal spots and marginal line. The under surface is dark grey-brown, marked almost as in '' bohemanni''. Niger to Angola and Uganda. — The blue transverse band on the upperside of the hindwing is narrower and everywhere completely separated from the blue marginal line. Sierra Leone to the Gold Coast.
See External links for the original description by Arthur Gardiner Butler published in 1866 in ''The Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London''.

Biology

Its habitat is (lowland rainforest in the west, gallery forest in the south, and patches of lowland and montane forest in the east).

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.

Subspecies

*''C. s. smaragdalis'' (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo, Zaire)
*''C. s. butleri'' Rothschild, 1900 (Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia)
*''C. s. caerulea'' Carpenter & Jackson, 1950 (eastern Zaire, south-western Uganda)
*''C. s. elgonae'' van Someren, 1964 (Uganda)
*''C. s. gobyae'' Plantrou, 1988C. s. gobyae Plantrou, 1988 (south-eastern Sudan)
*''C. s. homonymus'' Bryk, F. 1939 (south-west Kenya , north Tanzania)
*''C. s. kagera'' van Someren, 1964 (north-western Tanzania, south-western Uganda)
*''C. s. kigoma'' van Someren, 1964 (Tanzania)
*''C. s. leopoldi'' Ghesquière, 1933(northern Angola, eastern Congo, south-western Zaire)
*''C. s. metu'' van Someren, 1964 (south-western Sudan, northern Uganda)
*''C. s. toro'' van Someren, 1964 (western Uganda)
*''C. s. allardi'' Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, 1997 Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, E. 1997. Description d’une nouvelle sous-espece de ''Charaxes smaragdalis'' Butler, 1865 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). ''Entomologia Africana '' 2 (2): 32-33, 36-39.

References

Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31
*Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1964 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part II. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)181-23

*Van Someren, 1969 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part V. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)75-16

Additional notes

External links

Original descriptionImages of ''C. s. allardi''
Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. caerulea''
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. kagera''
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. kigoma''
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. leopoldi''
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. smaragdalis''
(Albertine Rift Project)
"''Charaxes'' Ochsenheimer, 1816"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
''Charaxes smaragdalis'' images
at Bold
''C. s. allardi'' images
at BOLD
''C. s. butleri'' images
at BOLD
''C. s. caerulea'' images
at BOLD includes verso
''C. s. elgonae'' images
at BOLD
''C. s. homonymus'' images
at BOLD

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5074107

Butterflies described in 1866
smaragdalis
Butterflies of Africa
Taxa named by Arthur Gardiner Butler