Charaxes lucretius

Charaxes lucretius, the violet-washed charaxes or common red charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.

Charaxes lucretius
C. l. lucretius
Bobiri Forest, Ghana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. lucretius
Binomial name
Charaxes lucretius
(Cramer, [1775])[1]
Synonyms
  • Papilio lucretius Cramer, [1775]
  • Charaxes lucretius lucida Le Cerf, 1923
  • Charaxes lucretius f. caliginosa Le Cerf, 1923
  • Charaxes cynthia f. albofascia Le Cerf, 1923
  • Charaxes lucretius f. babingtoni Stoneham, 1943
  • Charaxes lucretius f. alberici Dufrane, 1945
  • Charaxes lucretius f. victoriaeincola Storace, 1948

Taxonomy

Charaxes lucretius group:

Subspecies
  • C. l. lucretius (Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, western Nigeria)
  • C. l. intermedius van Someren, 1971 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia)
  • C. l. maximus van Someren, 1971 (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania)
  • C. l. saldanhai Bivar de Sousa, 1983 (north-western Angola)
  • C. l. schofieldi Plantrou, 1989 (north-eastern Zambia)
  • C. l. intermedius - male
  • C. l. intermedius - female

Distribution and habitat

It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.[2] The habitat consists of primary forests.

Biology

Both sexes are attracted to fermenting fruit, but males are also attracted to animal droppings. The larvae feed on Annona senegalensis, Hugonia platysepala and Trema species.

References
  1. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini
  • 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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