Charaxes fournierae

Charaxes fournierae, the euphaedra charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.[3]

Charaxes fournierae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. fournierae
Binomial name
Charaxes fournierae

Biology

The habitat consists of lowland tropical moist broadleaf forests.[4] The nominate subspecies resembles Euphaedra adonina and Euphaedra justicia, while subspecies jolybouyeri is closest to Euphaedra sarcoptera. All three of these euphaedras fly high up on occasion.It is puzzling that a non-aposematic charaxes should apparently mimic species of non-aposematic Euphaedra [5]

Subspecies
  • Charaxes fournierae fournierae (Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, western Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • Charaxes fournierae jolybouyeri Vingerhoedt, 1998[6] (Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana) considered a full species by Vingerhoedt et al.[7]
  • Charaxes fournierae kigeziensis Howarth, 1969.[8] (Uganda: south-west to south-west Kigezi)
  • Charaxes fournierae vandenberghei Collins, 1982 [9] (Rwanda: west to the Nyungwe Forest)

Discovery

"Around 1930, I trained a hunter, Mr. Pichot, a very intelligent and resourceful man, who, having gone to Africa, in turn educated many natives.Seeing the magnificent results he was obtaining, I asked him to look for me an extremely rare butterfly, of which there were perhaps two or three copies all over the world, the Charaxes Acraeoides. I specified that the female had never before been captured, and that consequently, if he ever provided me with one, I would immediately send him a few thousand francs.And one day, I received an enthusiastic letter: "I have the female, you will receive her shortly".I spent a few days of fever and a few nights of insomnia. Finally, the parcel arrived, and, to my amazement, I found that the butterfly so gloriously announced was not the female of the Charaxes Acraeoides, but the male of another Charaxes of an absolutely unknown species. Mr. Pichot's mistake was that the butterfly was indeed the size that could be assumed of a female of Acraeoides, but he did not understand that its colours, much more vivid, prevented it from being one. Madame Fournier, my best Parisian client, as soon as she saw this wonderful lepidopteran, never ceased [in her wish] to possess it. I sold it to her , not without first describing and baptizing it, by the name of its new owner. I named my rarity Charaxes Fournierae.Le Moult (Eugène), Mes chasses aux papillons, Editions Pierre Horay, 1955, p. 283-284.

Etymology

The name honours Aimée Fournier de Horrack.

Taxonomy

Charaxes acraeoides group.

the supposed clade members are:

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charaxes fournierae.
Wikispecies has information related to Charaxes fournierae.
  1. Le Moult, E. 1930. Description d’une nouvelle espece de Charaxes [Lep. Nymphalidae] du Congo Francais. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 1930: 171-173.
  2. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini
  4. Henning, S.F. 1988 [1989]. The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa. Aloe Books, Johannesburg, 1-457.
  5. Larsen, T.B. 2005 Butterflies of West Africa. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
  6. Vingerhoedt, E. 1998. [Description of a new subspecies of Charaxes fournierae Le Moult, 1930 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae).] Entomologia Africana 3 (Supplement): 1-6
  7. Vingerhoedt, Zakharov, Rougerie & Bouyer, 2010 Révision du statut des membres du groupe de Charaxes acraeoides, Druce 1908; approche intégrant morphologie, biogéographie et code barre ADN. Entomologia Africana n°15, volume 1, page : 36 à 48.
  8. Howarth. G. An unrecognised subspecies of Charaxes fournierae Le Moult and the male of Charaxes lydiae Holland. Proceeding and Transactions of the London Entomological and Natural History Society (B), volume 38, page 152 and 153, Plate 2.
  9. Collins, S.C. 1982. A new subspecies of Charaxes fournierae Le Moult 1930. Miscellanea Entomologica 49: 99-100.
  • Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1974 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IX. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 29 (8):415-487.


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