Charaxes cithaeron

Charaxes cithaeron, the blue-spotted emperor or blue-spotted charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in south-east Africa.[2]

Charaxes cithaeron figured in Adalbert Seitz's Fauna Africana

Blue-spotted emperor
Figure 2 male, 3 female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. cithaeron
Binomial name
Charaxes cithaeron
Synonyms
  • Charaxes cithaeron cithaeron ab. whitei van Someren, 1975

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

The wingspan is 70–80 mm in males and 85–95 mm in females. Ch. cithaeron Fldr. male: forewing above black with two transverse rows of blue spots; the proximal row in the middle, composed of 6 spots (2 in cellule lb and one each in 2-5), the distal consists of 8 spots, of which the first, in 6 and 7, are white; an elongate blue spot in la beyond the middle. Hindwing above beyond the middle with a broad transverse band, posteriorly whitish and anteriorly blue, blue submarginal spots and whitish marginal streaks. The basal part of the under surface with irregularly arranged, black, white-edged transverse streaks. The female has on the upperside a broad, curved white transverse band, proximally sharply defined, on the forewing and a bluish white transverse band on the hindwing and is hence very similar above to the female of violetta East Africa from Natal to Kenia in British East Africa. [3]

A full description is also given by Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan (1900). Novitates Zoologicae Volume 7:287-524. page 379-382 (for terms see Novitates Zoologicae Volume 5:545-601 )

Biology

Flight period is year-round.[4] Larvae feed on Trema orientalis, Albizia adianthifolia, Celtis africana, Cola natalensis, Chaerachme aristata, Bafia racemosa, Afzelia quanzensis, Milletia sutherlandi, Maytenus senegalensis, and Craibia brevecaudatus.[2][4] Notes on the biology of cithaeron are given by Pringle et al (1994), and Kielland, J. (1990).[5][6]

Habitat in Tanzania

Habitat

Forested areas from the coastal belt to the Kenya Highlands.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.[2]

  • C. c. cithaeron C. & R. Felder, 1859 (Tanzania, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, South Africa, Eswatini)
  • C. c. joanae van Someren, 1964 [7] (Zambia, northern Zimbabwe and possibly the Tukuyu District of Tanzania)
  • C. c. kennethi Poulton, 1926 [8] (coast of Kenya, eastern Tanzania)
  • C. c. nairobicus van Son, 1953 [9](Kenya: central highlands east of the Rift Valley)
  • C. c. nyasae van Someren, 1964 (Malawi)

Taxonomy

Similar to Charaxes xiphares but the female has a much wider forewing white band. Also similar to Charaxes violetta, which has straight white lines on the underside (these are irregular in Charaxes cithaeron) [10] Kielland discusses the great variability both within and between the various described subspecies and implies that the species is not divisible into definable subspecies.

Realm

Afrotropical

References
  1. Felder, C. and Felder , R. 1859 Lepidopterologische Fragmente. Wiener Entomologische Monatschrift 3: 390-405.
  2. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. 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.
  4. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
  5. Pringle et al , 1994. Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa, 2nd edition
  6. Kielland, J. 1990. Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.
  7. van Someren, V.G.L. 1964. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part II. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 15:181-235.
  8. Poulton, E.B. 1926 Mimicry in African butterflies of the genus Charaxes, with a classification of the species. III. Internationaler Entomologen-Kongress 2: 518-575.
  9. Van Son , G. 1953. A revision of the subspecies and forms of Charaxes cithaeron Felder and Charaxes xiphares (Cramer). Annals of the Transvaal Museum 22 (2): 219-230.
  10. Kielland, J. 1990 . Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.


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