Charaxes bernardus

Charaxes bernardus, the tawny rajah, is a butterfly that belongs to the rajahs and nawabs group, that is, the Charaxinae group of the brush-footed butterflies family. This species can be found in India, China, Indomalaya, and onwards to Indonesia.[1]

Tawny rajah
Upperside
Underside
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. bernardus
Binomial name
Charaxes bernardus
(Fabricius), 1793

Description

Charaxes bernardus has a wingspan of about 7–9 centimetres (2.8–3.5 in). The upperside of wings is reddish brown or pale brown-orange, with dark brown/black speckles at the wings tips and small black marks at the margin of the hindwings. On the underside of the wings there are irregular wavy or tawny brown speckles and whitish zigzag bands. Males and females are very similar in appearance.[2][3]

Habits

It has been recorded as a migrant in South India and is known to mud-puddle.[4]

Food plants

Known food plants of this species include: Aglaia lawii,[5] Aglaia roxburghiana (Meliaceae), Cinnamomum camphora, Litsea glutinosa, Litsea populifolia (Lauraceae), Sapium sebiferum (Euphorbiaceae), Adenanthera pavonina, Paraserianthes falcataria (= Falcataria moluccana), Tamarindus indica (Leguminosae), and Acronychia penduculata (Rutaceae).[6]

Subspecies
  • Charaxes bernardus bernardus – present in China and Hong Kong
  • Charaxes bernardus acolus Fruhstorfer – eastern Sumatra
  • Charaxes bernardus agna Moore, 1878 – in Thailand and Burma
  • Charaxes bernardus ajax Fawcett, 1897 – western Sumatra
  • Charaxes bernardus bajula Staudinger, 1889 – Palawan
  • Charaxes bernardus baliensis Joicey & Talbot, 1922 – Bali
  • Charaxes bernardus basilisae Schröder & Treadaway, 1982 – Philippines
  • Charaxes bernardus baya (Moore, 1857) – Java and Bali
  • Charaxes bernardus crepax Fruhstorfer, 1914 – Malaysia and Singapore
  • Charaxes bernardus cybistia Fruhstorfer
  • Charaxes bernardus enganicus Fruhstorfer, 1904
  • Charaxes bernardus hainanus Gu, 1994 – Hainan
  • Charaxes bernardus hemana Butler, 1870 – Nepal
  • Charaxes bernardus hierax C. & R. Felder, [1867] – Assam, Cambodia and southern Yunnan.
  • Charaxes bernardus hindia Butler, 1872
  • Charaxes bernardus kangeanensis Hanafusa, 1990[7]
  • Charaxes bernardus mahawedi Fruhstorfer – northern Indochina
  • Charaxes bernardus mirabilis Hanafusa, 1989[7]
  • Charaxes bernardus mitschkei Lathy, 1913 – Nias
  • Charaxes bernardus phlegontis Fruhstorfer
  • Charaxes bernardus repetitus Butler, 1896 – Borneo
  • Charaxes bernardus siporanus Hanafusa, 1992[8]
  • Charaxes bernardus siporaensis (Hanafusa, 1992)[8]
  • Charaxes bernardus varenius Fruhstorfer[1]
  • C. b. phlegontis
  • C. b. hierax (upperside)
  • C. b. hierax (underside)
  • C. b. mahawedi
  • Gua Tempurung, Malaysia

See also

Notes
  1. Charaxes bernardus at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. "Butterflies Club". Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  3. Gallery of Bengkulu
  4. Mathew, G.; Binoy, C.F. (2002). "Migration of butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) in the New Amarambalam Reserve Forest of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve" (PDF). Zoos' Print Journal. 17 (8): 844–847. doi:10.11609/jott.zpj.17.8.844-7.
  5. Kunte, K. 2006. Additions to the known larval host plants of Indian butterflies. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 103(1):119-121
  6. nhm.ac.uk Caterpillar Host-Plant Database
  7. Hanafusa, 1990: Ten new subspecies of Indonesian butterflies (Lep. Papilionidae, Satyridae, Nymphalidae). Futao 4: 12-15.
  8. Hanafusa, H. 1992: Three new Nymphalid butterflies from Indonesia. Futao 9: 1-3.

References
  • Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society.
  • Gaonkar, Harish (1996). Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain System. Bangalore, India: Centre for Ecological Sciences.
  • Gay, Thomas; Kehimkar, Isaac David; Punetha, Jagdish Chandra (1992). Common Butterflies of India. Nature Guides. Bombay, India: World Wide Fund for Nature-India by Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195631647.
  • Haribal, Meena (1992). The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and Their Natural History. Gangtok, Sikkim, India: Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation.
  • Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. India, A Lifescape. Hyderabad, India: Universities Press. ISBN 978-8173713545.
  • Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. ISBN 978-8170192329.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.