Charaxes pollux

Charaxes pollux, the black-bordered charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.

Charaxes pollux
Charaxes pollux, underwings
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. pollux
Binomial name
Charaxes pollux
(Cramer, 1775)[1]
Synonyms
  • Papilio pollux Cramer, 1775
  • Papilio camulus Drury, 1782
  • Charaxes pollux ab. subalbescens Hall, 1930
  • Charaxes pollux bungense Stoneham, 1932
  • Charaxes pollux ab. ongeus Stoneham, 1932
  • Charaxes pollux zinjense Stoneham, 1932
  • Charaxes pollux mirabilis Turlin, 1989

Taxonomy

The members of the Charaxes jasius group are:

Subspecies

Subspecies include:[1]

  • C. p. pollux (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, northern Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern and north-western Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, southern Sudan, Uganda, western and central Kenya, western Tanzania)
  • C. p. annamariae Turlin, 1998 (Bioko)
  • C. p. gazanus van Someren, 1967 (Mozambique: west to area between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers), eastern Zimbabwe)
  • C. p. geminus Rothschild, 1900 (Malawi, Zambia: east of the Luangwa Valley), southern and eastern Tanzania, south-eastern Kenya)
  • C. p. maua van Someren, 1967 (northern Tanzania)
  • C. p. mira Ackery, 1995 (north-eastern Tanzania)
  • C. p. piersoni Collins, 1990 (Zanzibar)

Distribution and habitat

Thes species can be found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Angola, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.[1][2] The habitat consists of forests, gallery forests and heavy woodland.

Description

In Charaxes pollux forewings can reach a length of 36–45 millimetres (1.4–1.8 in) in males, of 41–51 millimetres (1.6–2.0 in) in females. The upperside of the forewings is tawny in the basal area, with a broad ochraceous orange post-discal band and a black wide border. The upperside of the hindwings is rather similar, but it has a whitish discal area and pale blue submarginal spots. The underside is red-chestnut, with a white discal band and a series of black bars bordered with white. The edge of the wings is sharply dentate.[3]

Biology

Both sexes are attracted to fermenting fruit and sucking-trees. Adults are probably on wing year round. The larvae feed on Sorindeia species, Bersama abyssinica, Deinbollia kilimandsharica, Deinbollia borbonica, Fluggia microcarpa, Securinega virosa and Fluggia virosa.[1]

  • C. p. pollux from the CAR - upperside
  • C. p. pollux from the CAR - underside
  • Illustration from Fauna Africana (1910)

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


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