Charaxes hansali

Charaxes hansali, the cream-banded charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman.[3]

Cream-banded charaxes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. hansali
Binomial name
Charaxes hansali
Synonyms
  • Charaxes hansalii
  • Charaxes achaemenes ab. minor Storace, 1948
  • Charaxes hansalii kulalensis van Someren, 1971

Description

Ch. hansali Fldr. closely approaches Charaxes pelias in the markings, but has a broad light yellow discal band extending to the inner margin of the hindwing and the basal part of the upper surface is darker black-brown; the distal yellow spots in cellules 3—7 of the forewing are small and completely separated from the band; the yellow spots at the distal margin of the hindwing are streak-like and completely separated from the distal margin by the thick black marginal line; the tails are longer than in pelias ; the light-bordered spots in the basal part of the under surface have grey centres, as in pelias. Abyssinia and the adjacent parts of Somaliland. — baringana Rothsch. only differs from the type-form in the narrower discal band of the upper surface and the free red-brown spots at the distal side of the median band on the hindwing beneath. At Lake Baringo in British East Africa. [4]

Biology

The habitat consists of arid savanna.

The larvae feed on Salvadora persica, Osyris lanceolata, Colpoon compressum;[5] and Dobera glabra.Notes on the biology of hansali are provided by [6]

Subspecies

  • C. h. hansali (northern, eastern and south-eastern Ethiopia, Somalia: north to the Wagga Mountains)
  • C. h. arabica Riley, 1931 [7] (Oman)
  • C. h. baringana Rothschild, 1905[8] (Tanzania: southern shores of Lake Victoria, eastern Rwanda, Kenya, northern Uganda, southern Sudan, southern Ethiopia)
  • C. h. kulalae van Someren, 1975 [9] (Kenya: Mount Kulal, Ethiopia: south to Nighelli)
  • C. h. yemeni Turlin, 1998 [10] (Yemen)

Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "Charaxes jasius Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision,[11] corroborated by phylogenetic research, allow a more rational grouping congruent with cladistic relationships. Within a well-populated clade of 27 related species sharing a common ancestor approximately 16 mya during the Miocene,[12] 26 are now considered together as The jasius Group.[11] One of the two lineages forms a robust clade of seven species sharing a common ancestor approximately 2-3 mya, i.e. during the Pliocene,[12] and are considered as the jasius subgroup.[11]

The jasius Group (26 Species)

Clade 1: jasius subgroup (7 species):[11]

Clade 2: contains the well-populated three additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group, called the brutus, pollux, and eudoxus subgroups.[11] Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing Charaxes taxa is required to improve clarity.

References

  1. Felder, C. in Felder, C., and Felder, R. [1865-1867] Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara vi, 1- 549. [1865: 1-136; 1865: 137-378; 1867: 379-549]
  2. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini
  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. (Nigel Venters, at Markku Savela: Lepidoptera and some other life forms)
  6. Larsen (1991) The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxii, 1-490.
  7. Riley, N.D. 1931. Two new Charaxes from southern Arabia. Entomologist 64: 279-280.
  8. Rothschild, W. 1905. Some undescribed Lepidoptera. Novitates Zoologicae 12: 78-79.
  9. van Someren, V.G.L. 1975. Revisional notes on African Charaxes, Palla and Euxanthe (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part X. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 32 (3): 65-136.
  10. Turlin, B. 1998 [New African Charaxinae (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae).] Lambillionea 98 (2) (Tome I): 181-189.
  11. Turlin, B. (2005). Bauer & Frankenbach (ed.). Butterflies of the World: Charaxes 1. Vol. 22. Keltern: Goecke & Evers. pp. 2–3. ISBN 3937783156.
  12. "Out of Africa again: A phylogenetic hypothesis of the genus Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based on five gene regions". Aduse-Poku, Vingerhoedt, Wahlberg. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2009) 53;463–478
  • Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1971 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)181-226.

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