''Euxanthe trajanus'', the Trajan's forest queen, 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 ...

. It is found in

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 ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

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 ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, 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 ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

.Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Euxanthini
/ref>

Description

''E. trajanus'' Ward (29 f). Ground-colour of both wings black; the forewing in the above and beneath with a yellow-brown basal spot, a light yellow transverse band across the middle, a curved row of seven submarginal spots, of which the anterior ones are larger, and two or three small white spots before the apex; the hindwing above is bluish white in the middle and has small white dots close to the distal margin; beneath it is black with deep black rays between the veins and narrowly red-brown at the base. The female has white markings and the basal part of the hindwing on both surfaces is white to far beyond the middle and from the inner margin to vein 7; the black marginal band is consequently much narrower than in the but encloses two rows of white spots. - In West Africa from the Niger to Angola. Aurivillius, .O.. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. ''Die Grosschmetterlinge der Erde'' Band 13: Abt. 2, ''Die exotischen Grosschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter'', 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.

Subspecies

*''Euxanthe trajanus trajanus'' (Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Angola, southern and north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic) *''Euxanthe trajanus antonius'' Rousseau-Decelle, 1938 (southern Democratic Republic of the Congo) *''Euxanthe trajanus vansomereni'' Poulton, 1929 (eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda)

Biology

The habitat consists of primary lowland evergreen forests. The larvae feed on '' Deinbollia'', '' Phialodiscus'' and ''

Lovoa ''Lovoa'' is a genus of plants in the family Meliaceae. It contains the following species: * ''Lovoa swynnertonii'' Baker f. * ''Lovoa trichilioides ''Lovoa trichilioides'', also called African walnut, Congowood, dibetou or tigerwood, is a spe ...

'' species.

References

External links

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Butterflies described in 1871 Charaxinae Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Christopher Ward (entomologist) {{Charaxinae-stub