Charaxes hildebrandti, the Hildebrandt's charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Zambia.[3] It is a rare and local species [4]

Charaxes hildebrandti
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. hildebrandti
Binomial name
Charaxes hildebrandti
(Dewitz, 1879).[1] [2]
Synonyms
  • Nymphalis hildebrandti Dewitz, 1879
  • Charaxes hildebrandtii
  • Charaxes galba Distant, 1879
  • Charaxes talagugae Holland, 1886
  • Charaxes hidebrandti hildebrandti f. michelae Plantrou, 1980

Description edit

Ch. hildebrandti Dew. male : wings above black with a common, straight, white, bluish-bordered transverse band, extending from vein 2 on the hindwing to vein 7 or 8 on the forewing, but in cellules 5—8 of the forewing broken up into small, rounded spots; tails of the hindwing short and obtuse. The white transverse band occurs beneath also and is here basally bounded on the hindwing by the fine, continuous and nearly straight black discal line, but on the forewing in cellules lb—3 proximally often angled at the veins so as to form a series of steps. Hindwing beneath with yellowish marginal line. The female is somewhat larger than the male and has the white transverse band broader and scarcely margined with blue, reaching the inner margin of the hindwing; otherwise it agrees with the male. Gold Coast to Angola.[5]

Biology edit

Its habitat consists of lowland evergreen forests.

The larvae feed on Dyboscia species.

Subspecies edit

  • Charaxes hildebrandti hildebrandti (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, Central African Republic, northern and central Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Uganda)
  • Charaxes hildebrandti gillesi Plantrou, 1973 [6] (Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, western Nigeria)
  • Charaxes hildebrandti katangensis Talbot, 1928 [7](eastern and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, north-western Zambia, Uganda: west to the Bwamba Valley)

Taxonomy edit

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

Realm edit

Afrotropical realm

Etymology edit

The name honours Johann Maria Hildebrandt.

References edit

  1. ^ Dewitz, H. 1879. Afrikanische Tagschmetterlinge. Nova Acta Academiae Caesarea Leopoldina Carolinae Germanicum Naturae Curiousorum 41 (2): 173-212.
  2. ^ "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. ^ "Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
  4. ^ Larsen, T.B. 2005 Butterflies of West Africa. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
  5. ^ 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.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ Plantrou, J. 1973. Note sur les Charaxes de l’Afrique occidentale, 1 (Lep. Nymphalidae).Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 78 (7-8): 268-276.
  7. ^ Talbot, G. 1928 New forms of African Nymphalidae (Lep. Rhop.) in the Musee du Congo,Tervueren. Bulletin of the Hill Museum, Witley 2: 229-231
  • 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.[1]

External links edit