Charaxes numenes

Charaxes numenes, the lesser blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.^[3]

Charaxes numenes
In Ghana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Charaxes
Species:	C. numenes
Binomial name
Charaxes numenes (Hewitson, 1859).[1] [2]
Synonyms
Nymphalis numenes Hewitson, 1859 Charaxes numenes f. obsolescens Stoneham, 1931 Charaxes numenes laticatena Le Cerf, 1932 Charaxes albimaculatus van Someren, 1972

Description

Ch. numenes Hew. (31 c). Tails of the hindwing short. Hindwing beneath somewhat beyond the middle with a continuous, fine, gently curved, black transverse line, distally bordered with white, almost exactly as in violetta. In this these two species differ from all the rest of the tiridates group. Male, wings above bluish black, at the base black-brown; forewing in the middle with four small blue spots in the basal part of cellules 2-5 and usually also behind the middle with a transverse row of blue dots; marginal spots distinct, ochre-yellow. Hindwing beyond the middle with a row of blue dots, incurved in cellule 6; small whitish submarginal spots and fine whitish marginal streaks. The female agrees almost entirely with that of tiridates Sierra Leone to Angola and Uganda. - neumanni Rothsch. has larger yellow marginal spots on both wings and somewhat longer tail-appendages on the hindwing; Abyssinia. ^[4]

Biology

The habitat consists of evergreen lowland forests.

The larvae feed on Hugonia platysepela, Grewia mollis, Grewia forbesi, Grewia trichocarpa, Deinbollia fulvotomentella, Erythrina abyssinica, Erythrina excelsa, Allophylus, Blighia unijugata and Phialodiscus unijugatus.

Subspecies

• Charaxes numenes numenes (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, western Nigeria)
• Charaxes numenes aequatorialis van Someren, 1972^[5] (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Central African Republic, southern Sudan, Uganda, western Kenya, western Tanzania)
• Charaxes numenes malabo Turlin, 1998 ^[6](Bioko)
• Charaxes numenes neumanni Rothschild, 1902 ^[7] (southern and western Ethiopia)

• 
  Male - dorsal side
• 
  Male - ventral side
• 
  Female - dorsal side
• 
  Female - ventral side

Taxonomy

Charaxes tiridates group.

The supposed clade members are:

• Charaxes tiridates
• Charaxes numenes - similar to next
• Charaxes bipunctatus - similar to last
• Charaxes violetta
• Charaxes fuscus
• Charaxes mixtus
• Charaxes bubastis
• Charaxes albimaculatus
• Charaxes barnsi
• Charaxes bohemani
• Charaxes schoutedeni
• Charaxes monteiri
• Charaxes smaragdalis
• Charaxes xiphares
• Charaxes cithaeron
• Charaxes nandina
• Charaxes imperialis
• Charaxes ameliae
• Charaxes pythodoris
• ? Charaxes overlaeti

For a full list see Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013.^[8]

References

1. Hewitson, W.C. [1859] in Hewitson, [1857-61]. Illustrations of new species of exotic butterflies 2: 75 (124 pp.). London.
2. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
3. "Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
4. Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, 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.
5. Van Someren , V.G.L. 1972. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera:Nymphalidae). Part VIII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 27 (4): 215-264.
6. Turlin, B. 1998 [New African Charaxinae (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae).Lambillionea 98 (2) (Tome I): 181-189.
7. Rothschild, W. 1902. Some new African Lepidoptera discovered by Oscar Neumann. Novitates Zoologicae 9: 595-598.
8. "African Charaxes/Charaxes Africains Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013". Archived from the original on 2013-06-27.

• Media related to Charaxes numenes at Wikimedia Commons
• Data related to Charaxes numenes at Wikispecies

• Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31
• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1972 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VIII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)215-264. also as Charaxes albimaculatus

External links

• Images of C. n. aequatorialis Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
• Images of C. n. numenes (Albertine Rift Project)
• C. n. neumanni images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• C. n. aequatorialis at BOLD