Charaxes acuminatus explained

Charaxes acuminatus, the pointed pearl charaxes or mountain pearl charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.^[1]

Description

Characterized, as the specific name implies, by the acuminate forewings Forewing with the distal margin deeply excised and long, sharp, falcate apex. The orange or red-brown spots in the black marginal area small or indistinct. German East Africa. ^[2] ^[3]

Biology

The habitat consists of afromontane forests usually at altitudes above .

Notes on the biology of acuminatus are given by Larsen, T.B. (1991) and Kielland, J. (1990).^[4] ^[5]

The larvae feed on Allophylus species (including A. alnifolius, A. chirindensis, A. abyssinicus, A. chaunostachys and A. africanus) and Bersama abyssinica.

Taxonomy

Charaxes varanes group. Subgenus Stonehamia (Hadrodontes)The group members are:

Charaxes varanes
Charaxes fulvescens very similar to varanes
Charaxes acuminatus very pointed forewing
Charaxes balfouri
Charaxes analava
Charaxes nicati
Charaxes bertrami perhaps subspecies of varanes
Charaxes saperanus
Charaxes defulvata

Subspecies

C. a. acuminatus (Tanzania, northern Malawi)
C. a. cottrelli van Someren, 1963^[6] (north-western Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo: from the south-east to Shaba)
C. a. kigezia van Someren, 1963 (western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, north-western Tanzania)
C. a. kulalae van Someren, 1975 (northern Kenya)
C. a. mlanji van Someren, 1963 (southern Malawi)
C. a. nyika van Someren, 1963 (Malawi: Nyika Plateau, north-eastern Zambia)
C. a. oreas Talbot, 1932^[7] (Kenya: central highlands east of the Rift Valley)
C. a. rondonis Kielland, 1987^[8] (south-eastern Tanzania)
C. a. shimbanus van Someren, 1963 (south-eastern coast of Kenya)
C. a. stonehamiana Collins & Larsen, 1991 ^[9] (western Kenya)
C. a. teitensis van Someren, 1963 (south-eastern Kenya, Tanzania: north to Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru)
C. a. thiryi Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, 2001^[10] (Democratic Republic of Congo)
C. a. usambarensis van Someren, 1963 (north-eastern Tanzania)
C. a. vumba van Someren, 1963 (eastern Zimbabwe)

References

Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren (1963). Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part I. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 195-242. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/102952#page/251/mode/1up

External links

Images of C. acuminatus acuminatus Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
Images of C. acuminatus kigezia Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
Images of C. acuminatus usambarensis Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
Charaxes acuminatus images at Charaxes page Consortium for the Barcode of Life subspecies and forms
African Butterfly Database Range map via search

Notes and References

Web site: Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini . 2012-05-22 . 2013-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131109071734/http://atbutterflies.com/downloads/nymphalidae_charaxini.doc . dead .
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.
Kielland, J.1990 Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.
Kielland, J. 1990. Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.
Larsen, T.B. 1991 The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxii, 1-490.
Van Someren, V.G.L. 1963. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera:Nymphalidae). Part I. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). (Entomology) 13:195-242.
Talbot, G. 1932 A note on the habits of some Charaxes observed on Mount Kenya, and the description of a new race of Charaxes. Bulletin of the Hill Museum, Witley 4: 181.
Kielland, J. 1987 New taxa of Rhopalocera from Tanzania (Lepidoptera: Papilionidae). Lambillionea 87 (9-10): 114-126.
Collins, S.C. and Larsen, T.B. 1991. Description of new genera, species, and subspecies discovered as part of the research for the book The butterflies of Kenya and their natural history. in Larsen-T, B The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxi, 1-490
Bouyer, T., & Vingerhoedt, E. 2001. Description d’une nouvelle sous-espece de Charaxes acuminatus Thurau, 1903 (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae). Entomologia Africana 6 (1): 26-30.