Charaxes lactetinctus

Charaxes lactetinctus, the blue patch charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and possibly Sudan.[3]

Charaxes lactetinctus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. lactetinctus
Binomial name
Charaxes lactetinctus
Synonyms
  • Charaxes lactetinctus f. jacksonianus van Someren, 1936
  • Charaxes lactetinctus busogus van Someren, 1972
  • Charaxes lactetinctus ungemachi f. brunneus Carpenter, 1935

Description

Ch. lactetinctus Karsch Both wings above broadly suffused with milk-white at the base; the forewing then black with orange distal band, cleft at the costal margin, but at the hindmargin indistinct in cellules la and lb and with orange marginal spots; the distal half of the hindwing black with narrow orange marginal band, preceded by blue spots; thorax and abdomen above milk-white. Both wings beneath dark violet-brown; the cell of the forewing with two transverse streaks, the first and second black and white ringed, but the third entirely white. A rare species, only observed in the Togo hinterland and Adamaua. [4]

Biology

The habitat consists of savanna, including dry thorn-bush savanna.

The larvae feed on Syzygium cordatum and Maesopsis eminii.

Subspecies
  • Charaxes lactetinctus lactetinctus (western Guinea, northern Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, northern Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, western and north-western Kenya)
  • Charaxes lactetinctus ungemachi Le Cerf, 1927 [5] (south-western Ethiopia and possibly Sudan)

Recent taxonomic revision,[6] corroborated by phylogenetic research, allow more rational grouping of related species (compared with historical attempts) based upon with cladistic relationships. Within a well-populated clade of 27 related species sharing a common ancestor approximately 16 mya during the Miocene,[7] 26 are now considered together as the jasius Group.[6] C. lactetinctus is the 27th species in the Clade, and has undergone remarkable evolutionary divergence over the last 1.5 to 2.5 million years[7] separating it from its closest existing relatives among the eudoxus and pollux subgroups, to the extent that it is considered a monospecific lactetinctus Group.[8]

References
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  1. Karsch, F., 1892 Vorlaufige Beschreibung von drei neuen Lepidopteren von Bismarckburg im Togolande (Deutschwestafrika). Entomologische Nachrichten. Berlin 18: 113-117.
  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. Le Cerf, F. 1927 Description d’un Charaxes nouveau d’Abyssinie. Encyclopedie Entomologique (B. 3. Lepidoptera) 2: 144.
  6. Turlin, B. (2005). Bauer & Frankenbach (ed.). Butterflies of the World: Charaxes 1. Vol. 22. Keltern: Goecke & Evers. p. 3. ISBN 3937783156.
  7. "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
  8. Turlin, B. (2007). Bauer & Frankenbach (ed.). Butterflies of the World: Charaxes 3. Vol. 25. Keltern: Goecke & Evers. p. 3. ISBN 9783937783284.
  • Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1972 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VIII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)215-264.


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