Charaxes viola

Charaxes viola, the savanna demon charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.[3] The habitat consists of dry savanna and dry forests.

Charaxes viola
Charaxes viola picta male from the CAR
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. viola
Binomial name
Charaxes viola
Synonyms
  • Charaxes chiron Staudinger, 1886
  • Charaxes etheocles etheocles f. picta Rothschild, 1900
  • Charaxes etheocles etheocles f. vansomereni Poulton, 1926
  • Charaxes etheocles f. splendens Rousseau-Decelle, 1938
  • Charaxes etheocles f. illuminata Rousseau-Decelle, 1938

Adults are attracted to fallen mangoes.

The larvae feed on Entada gigas, Acacia mellifera, Albizia adianthifolia, Albizia coriaria, Entada abyssinica, Acacia amythethophylla, Albizia gummifera and Entada sudanica.

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

Female. Upperside — front wings brown; outer margin reddish; a broad ferruginous band near the hind margin, interrupted above by a brown patch and by the nervures. Hindwings, basal half brown, apical half white tinted with blue green; outer margin brown, with orange upper edging, green below the outer tail; a submarginal row of violaceous lunules; two black spots at the anal angle. Underside only differs from C. ethalion in the brighter red of the submarginal lunules, in the central white band being only indicated by a paler shade of brown, and the less distinct black markings.[4]

Taxonomy

Charaxes viola is a member of the large species group Charaxes etheocles.

Subspecies
  • Charaxes viola viola (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, western and northern Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad)
  • Charaxes viola picta van Someren & Jackson, 1952[5] (eastern Nigeria, mountains of Cameroon, Congo, Central African Republic, north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, northern Uganda, north-western Kenya)

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charaxes viola.
Wikispecies has information related to Charaxes viola.
  1. Butler, A.G. (1866): Monograph of the species of Charaxes, a genus of diurnal Lepidoptera. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1865:622-639.
  2. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini
  4. Butler, A.G. (1866): Monograph of the species of Charaxes, a genus of diurnal Lepidoptera. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1865:622-639.
  5. Van Someren , V.G.L. & Jackson, T.H.E. 1952. The Charaxes etheocles-ethalion complex: a tentative reclassification of the group (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 103: 257-284.
  • Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1969 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part V. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 75-166.


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