Charaxes protoclea

Charaxes protoclea, the flame-bordered emperor or flame-bordered charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found Subsaharan Africa.[2] It is a common forest charaxes.

Flame-bordered emperor
Charaxes protoclea protoclea male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Charaxinae
Tribe: Charaxini
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. protoclea
Binomial name
Charaxes protoclea
Synonyms
  • Charaxes aeson Herrich-Schaeffer, 1858
  • Philognoma azota Hewitson, 1877
  • Charaxes calliclea Grose-Smith, 1889
  • Charaxes nyasana Butler, 1895
  • Charaxes protoclea var. aequidistans Gaede, 1916
  • Charaxes protoclea catenaria f. parcepicta Rousseau-Decelle, 1934
  • Charaxes protoclea catenaria f. bifida Rousseau-Decelle, 1934
  • Charaxes protoclea catenaria f. kafakumbana Rousseau-Decelle, 1934
  • Charaxes protoclea catenaria f. mutschatschana Rousseau-Decelle, 1934
  • Charaxes protoclea ab. maculata Strand, 1910
  • Charaxes protoclea ab. ablutus Schultze, 1914
  • Charaxes protoclea ab. nigropunctata Neustetter, 1916
  • Charaxes protoclea var. marginepunctata Holland, 1920
  • Charaxes protoclea f. sinuosa Rousseau-Decelle, 1934
  • Charaxes protoclea protoclea f. jeromei Birket-Smith, 1960

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

The wingspan is 65–70 mm in males and 75–95 mm in females. Ch. protoclea Feisth. has the forewing above unicolorous black, only in cellules la—2 with orange-yellow marginal spots or with orange-yellow marginal band; hindwing above also deep black but with very broad orange-yellow marginal band, 10 mm. in breadth at vein 3, usually enclosing a black dot in cellules lc and 6; the under surface of both wings dark umber-brown with the markings ferruginous, only in cellule lc of the forewing black; the costal margin of the forewing not lighter than the ground-colour. The female is quite unlike the male and has on both surfaces a very broad white median band, which in cellules 3—7 of the forewing is more or less completely broken up into spots; the ground-colour is above blackish, beneath lighter grey-brown than in the male the forewing above as in the male only with orange-yellow marginal spots in cellules la—-2; the yellow marginal band on the upperside of the hindwing only 3 mm. in breadth. Senegambia to Angola. — nothodes Jord, connects the type-form with azota, the marginal spots of the forewing being better developed than in the former, but less than in azota, and the submarginal spots not so complete as in azota. Tanganyika. — azota Hew. must be regarded as the eastern race. The male only differs in having the orange-yellow marginal band on the upperside of the fore wing extending to the apex and preceded by a transverse row of orange-yellow submarginal spots, which are or less confluent with the marginal ones. The female has a still broader white median band on the upper surface, on the forewing broken up into two rows of spots in cellules 2—7, of which the distal row is formed of large orange-yellow spots; the orange-yellow marginal band on the forewing above is complete, as in the male . Distributed in East Africa from Delagoa Bay to Nyassaland and British East Africa, male-ab. nyasana Btlr. only differs in having the marginal and submarginal spots on the upperside of the forewing connected as far as vein 5, enclosing a black spot; in the normal form these spots are already separated in cellule 4. Nyassaland. [3]

Biology

Has two broods from October to November and from February to June.[4]

The habitat is Miombo woodland.

Larvae feed on Afzelia quanzensis, Brachystegia spiciformis, and Julbernardia globiflora.[2][4]

Notes on the biology of protoclea are given by Kielland (1990), (1991) and Pringle et al (1994) [5] [6].[7]

Taxonomy

Charaxes cynthia group

The group members are

Charaxes protoclea and Charaxes subornatus

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.[2]

  • C. p. azota (Hewitson, 1877) [8] (Kenya, Tanzania, north-eastern Zambia, Malawi, eastern Zimbabwe, southern Mozambique, South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal)
  • C. p. catenaria Rousseau-Decelle, 1934 [9](Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Tanzania, Zambia)
  • C. p. cedrici [10] Canu, 1989 (Bioko)
  • C. p. nothodes Jordan, 1911[11] (Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Uganda, north-western Tanzania)
  • C. p. protoclea Feisthamel, 1850 (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, western Nigeria)
  • C. p. protonothodes van Someren, 1971[12] (Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo, north-western Angola, north-western Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • C. p. protoclea male
    C. p. protoclea male
  • C. p. azota male from Kenya
    C. p. azota male from Kenya
  • C. p. protonothodes male from CAR
    C. p. protonothodes male from CAR

References
  1. Feisthamel, J. F. P., 1850 Description de quelques Lépidoptères Rhopalocéres nouveaux ou peu connus, provenant de la Cazamance (Afrique) Ann. Soc. ent. Fr. (2) 8 : 247-262.
  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. Kielland, J. 1990 Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.</refApollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
  6. Larsen, T.B. 1991 The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxii, 1-490.
  7. Pringle et al , 1994. Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa, 2nd edition
  8. Hewitson, W.C. 1877 Descriptions of three new species of butterflies from Delagoa Bay. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 14: 81-83.
  9. Rousseau-Decelle, G. 1934. De quelques formes nouvelles de Charaxes africains. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 39: 228-236.
  10. Canu, J.G 1989. In: Henning, 1989. The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa 136 (457 pp.). Johannesburg.
  11. Jordan, K. 1911. Two new African butterflies. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 137-138.
  12. van Someren, V.G.L. 1971. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera:Nymphalidae). Part VII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 26:181-226.
  • 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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