Acraea medea

The synonym Papilio medea was also applied (also in 1775, but apparently regarded as invalid) to the species now known as Catonephele acontius

Acraea medea is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found on the island of Príncipe.^[3] It is also considered a subspecies of Acraea egina, Acraea egina medea.^[4][2]

Acraea medea
Figures c and d
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Acraea
Species:	A. medea
Binomial name
Acraea medea (Cramer, 1775) [1][2]
Synonyms
Papilio medea Cramer, 1775 (nec Fabricius) Acraea (Acraea) medea Papilio pasiphae Fabricius, 1781 Telchinia saronis Hübner, 1819 Acraea egina medea Eltringham, 1912

Description

Fig 1 as Acraea egina medea

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

A. medea Cr. (54 d) is in my [Aurivillius] opinion best treated as an independent species. The light yellow marginal spots on the underside of the forewing and the thick black submarginal line which bounds them proximally form quite a new feature, to which nothing in egina and its races corresponds. Both wings above at the base broadly black to vein 2 or 3, then as far as the sharply defined black marginal band, which is 4 to 5 mm. in breadth, yellow-red (male) or white (female) with very large discal dots, arranged quite as in egina; fore wing beneath reddish, at the base and in the female also in the middle light yellow or whitish; hindwing beneath in the middle greenish light yellow or whitish, at the base and at the marginal band with brown-red or orange-yellow spots. Princes Island ^[5]

Taxonomy

It is a member of the Acraea egina species group - but see also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 ^[6]

References

1. Cramer, P. [1775-1776]. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie waereld-deelen Asia, Africa en America. Amsteldam & Utrecht. 1: [vi], xxx, 16 pp., 155 pp.
2. "Acraea Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
3. Pyrcz, T.W. (1992). "Rain Forests of São Tomé and Príncipe: Butterflies and Conservation" (PDF). Tropical Lepidoptera. 3 (2): 95–100.
4. "Acraea egina medea". Catalogue of Life. Species 2000: Leiden, the Netherlands. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
5. Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Grosschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Grosschmetterlinge, 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. Pierre & Bernau, 2014 Classification et Liste Synonymique des Taxons du Genre Acraea pdf

External links

• Images representing Acraea medea at Bold.