Acraea egina

Acraea egina, the elegant acraea, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.

Acraea egina
A. e. egina, Ghana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. egina
Binomial name
Acraea egina
(Cramer, 1775)[1]
Synonyms
  • Papilio egina Cramer, 1775
  • Acraea (Acraea) egina
  • Papilio rudolphina Herbst, 1792
  • Papilio persephone Fabricius, 1793
  • Acraea zidora Godart, 1819
  • Acraea khara Grose-Smith, 1889
  • Acraea egina f. contraria Grünberg, 1910
  • Acraea egina f. alba Eltringham, 1913
  • Acraea egina intensa Stoneham, 1937
  • Acraea egina f. tenuimarginatus Stoneham, 1937
  • Acraea egina f. rubristriatus Stoneham, 1937
  • Acraea egina bellehui Carcasson, 1961
  • Acraea areca Mabille, 1889
  • Acraea harrisoni Sharpe, 1904

Subspecies
  • Acraea egina egina (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, western Kenya, northern Zambia)
  • Acraea egina areca Mabille, 1889 (Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, South Africa: Limpopo Province))
  • Acraea egina harrisoni Sharpe, 1904 (coast of Kenya)
  • Acraea egina pembanus Kielland, 1990 (Pemba)

Description

The wingspan of Acraea egina can reach 60–65 millimetres (2.4–2.6 in). Wings are basically brick red, with black spots on both forewings and hindwings and a quite large black margin on the hindwing upperside. These butterflies are closely mimicked by Pseudacraea boisduvali and by Graphium ridleyanus in the shade of color, in the cut of the wings and in the pattern of markings. The larvae of Acraea egina feed on Adenia lobata and Rawsonia species. They are whitish with black rings and black tubercules, while the pupae are pinkish brown.

Distribution

This species can be found in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa.[2]

Habitat

The habitats of this species mainly consists of dry forests and savannah, but it also prefers clearings and open areas in the rainforest.

  • A. e. egina, Ghana
  • A. e. egina in flight, Ghana
  • Illustration of Acraea egina figures 1 and 2 as Acraea khara

References
  1. "Acraea Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. "Afrotropical Butterflies: Nymphalidae - Tribe Acraeini". Archived from the original on 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2012-05-31.


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