''Charaxes varanes'', the pearl emperor, Karkloof emperor, or pearl 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 ...

of 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 ...

, found in Africa from

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

.''Charaxes varanes''
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is in males and in females. Its flight period is year round. Larvae feed on ''

Allophylus ''Allophylus'' is a genus within the plant family Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1,858 accepted species. Example ...

'' species and '' Cardiospermum halicacabum''.

Description

The upperside of the body and roughly the inner half of the wings is white, sharply delineated on the forewings parallel to the length of the body, and diffusely delineated parallel to the margin of the hindwing. Outside the white area of the upperside, the wings are orange to brown, with a pattern of lighter and darker flecks. The underside of the body and wings mimic a dead leaf. A slightly diffuse but clear, sepia brown straight line divides the under wing in a zone next to the body and a zone near the wings' edges. The inner zone is mostly light beige with three parallel, curved, interrupted, grey-brown wavy lines, circling the wings' attachment to the body. A triangle based on the front of the forewing and bordering the division line has the dark grayish-brown color of the outer zone. The outer zone of the underside of the hindwing has a line of clear eyespots while the forewing has vaguer markings. The outer spur on the hindwing is well developed. Male and female are alike. A full description is given by Rothschild, W and Jordan, K.

Behaviour

The pearl emperor is a large, actively, fast and high-flying butterfly. It is the most common ''Charaxes'' in the Gambia, where it is present throughout the year in various habitats. They are usually observed as single individuals flying fast and high. They mostly rest with closed wings, although males may sit high with slightly opened wings.

Taxonomy

''Charaxes varanes'' group. Type species of subgenus ''Stonehamia'' (''Hadrodontes'') The group members are: *''Charaxes varanes'' *'' Charaxes fulvescens'' very similar to ''varanes'' *'' Charaxes acuminatus'' very pointed forewing *'' Charaxes balfouri'' *'' Charaxes analava'' *'' Charaxes nicati'' *'' Charaxes bertrami'' perhaps subspecies of ''varanes'' *'' Charaxes saperanus'' *'' Charaxes defulvata''

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically: *''C. v. bertrami'' Riley, 1931 – (Oman, eastern Yemen) *''C. v. torbeni'' Turlin, 1999 – (Yemen) Perhaps full species *''C. v. varanes'' (Cramer, 1764) – (southern Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini) *''C. v. vologeses'' (Mabille, 1876) Mabille, P. 1877– a description de trois especes nouvelles de lepidopteres de Madagascar ''Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France'' (5) 7: 37-39. (Africa)

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 ...

(1974). Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IX. ''Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History'' (Entomology). 29(8):415-487

External links

Images of ''C.varanes vologeses''

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)
''Charaxes varanes'' images
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''Charaxes varanes varanes'' images
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''Charaxes varanes vologeses'' images
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''Charaxes varanes bertrami'' images
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''Charaxes varanes torbeni'' images
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''Charaxes torbeni'' images
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''Charaxes bertrami'' images
at BOLD {{Taxonbar, from=Q2957658 varanes Butterflies described in 1764 Taxa named by Pieter Cramer Butterflies of Africa