Acraea wigginsi

Acraea wigginsi, the Wiggins' acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae which is native to tropical Africa.

Wiggins' acraea
Imago illustrated in Seitz (1900)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. wigginsi
Binomial name
Acraea wigginsi
Synonyms
  • Acraea (Actinote) wigginsi
  • Acraea wigginsi r. occidentalis Bethune-Baker, 1926

Range

It is found in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya.[3]

Description
For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

A. wigginsi Neave. Forewing above blackish at the costal margin, in the apical part and at the distal margin, with a broad white subapical band in cellules 3 to 6, 9 and 10 and often also with yellow marginal spots; the cell and cellules 1a to 2 red-yellow as far as the marginal band; a black dot in the cell and a transverse spot at its apex and also discal dots in 1b to 5 or at least in 1b to 3; hindwing above golden yellow with narrow, yellow-spotted marginal band; forewing beneath as above, but lighter and at the distal margin grey with black veins; hindwing beneath light yellow with narrow white-spotted marginal band, which is proximally accompanied by gold-yellow quadrate spots, and between the discal and basal dots with an irregularly broken red transverse band, in addition with a red spot at the base of cellules 1c and 8. The female only differs in having the red-yellow colour on the forewing above less extended. Expanse 46 to 56 mm. British East Africa and Uganda.[4]

Subspecies
  • Acraea wigginsi wigginsi — Democratic Republic of the Congo: Ituri, Uganda, western Kenya
  • Acraea wigginsi occidentalis Bethune-Baker, 1926 — Cameroon

Biology

The habitat consists of grassy edges of sub-montane forests at altitudes above 1,500 meters.

The larvae feed on Cassia zambesiacus and Kotschya strigosa.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the Acraea rahira species group – but see also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014.[5]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Acraea wigginsi.
Wikispecies has information related to Acraea wigginsi.
  1. Neave, S.A. 1904. On a large collection of rhopalocera from the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. Novitates Zoologicae 11: 323-363.
  2. "Acraea Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. "Afrotropical Butterflies: Nymphalidae - Tribe Acraeini". Archived from the original on 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
  4. Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13). Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  5. Pierre & Bernau, 2014 Classification et Liste Synonymique des Taxons du Genre Acraea pdf


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