Charaxes legeri

Charaxes legeri, the St. Leger's charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern Burkina Faso, northern Benin, northern Nigeria and southern Niger.[3] The habitat consists of woodland savanna at altitudes between 600 and 1,700 meters.

Charaxes legeri
Charaxes legeri from N. Nigeria
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. legeri
Binomial name
Charaxes legeri
Plantrou, 1978 [1][2]

Taxonomy

D’Abrera (1980) [4] and Henning (1989) [5] suggested that Charaxes legeri might be a hybrid between Charaxes epijasius and Charaxes castor Larsen (2005) [6] however, argues that Charaxes legeri is a distinct species.

Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "Charaxes jasius Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision,[7] 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,[8] 26 are now considered together as The jasius Group.[7] 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,[8] and are considered as the jasius subgroup.[7]

The jasius Group (26 Species)

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

Clade 2: contains the well-populated three additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group, called the brutus, pollux, and eudoxus subgroups.[7] Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing Charaxes taxa is required to improve clarity.

Natural history

The larvae feed on Sorghum bicolor [= roxburghii ] and Annona species.

References
  1. Plantrou , J. 1978. Description d’une espece du genre Charaxes nouvellement decouverte au Nigeria (Lep. Nymphalidae). Bulletin de la Societe Lepidopteristes Francais 1: 187-194.
  2. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini
  4. D’Abrera, B. L. 1980. Butterflies of the Afrotropical Region. Lansdowne Editions, Melbourne
  5. Henning, S.F. 1988 [1989]. The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa. Aloe Books, Johannesburg, 1-457.
  6. Larsen, T.B. 2005 Butterflies of West Africa. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
  7. Turlin, B. (2005). Bauer & Frankenbach (ed.). Butterflies of the World: Charaxes 1. Vol. 22. Keltern: Goecke & Evers. pp. 2–3. ISBN 3937783156.
  8. "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


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