Charaxes eupale explained

Charaxes eupale, the common green charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi.^[1]

Biology

eupale is the most common forest charaxes ^[2] The habitat consists of lowland evergreen forests.

The larvae feed on Scutia myrtina, Albizia gummifera, Albizia zygia, Albizia adianthifolia and Cathormion species.

Notes on the biology of eupale are given by Larsen, T.B. (1991) ^[3]

The green colouration is produced by pigments as opposed to being produced structurally, which is common in most green butterflies.

Description

A full description is given by Rothschild, W. And Jordan, K., 1900 Novitates Zoologicae Volume 7:510 et seq. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3267025/#page/524/mode/1up (for terms see Novitates Zoologicae Volume 5:545-601 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/22556#page/9/mode/1up)

Subspecies

• Charaxes eupale eupale (Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria)
• Charaxes eupale latimargo Joicey & Talbot, 1921 ^[4] (south-eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, northern Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania)
• Charaxes eupale veneris White & Grant, 1989^[5] (Malawi, Tanzania, northern Zambia)

Similar species

Similar to Charaxes dilutus but apical green patch darker and hind wing with a dark green margin ^[6]

Charaxes eupale is in the Charaxes eupale species group (clade) The clade members are:

• Charaxes subornatus
• Charaxes eupale
• Charaxes dilutus
• Charaxes montis
• Charaxes minor
• Charaxes schiltzei
• Charaxes schultzei
• Charaxes virescens

Bouyer et al., 2008 erected the genus Viridixes Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, 2008 to accommodate species belonging to the eupale species group.^[7]

Realm

Afrotropical realm

References

• Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 32
• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1974 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IX. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 29 (8):415-487. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127336#page/511/mode/1up

External links

• African Charaxes/Charaxes Africains Eric Vingerhoedt images of eupale group
  • Charaxes eupale images at Bold Images of C. eupale latimargo Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini . 2012-05-23 . 2013-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131109071734/http://atbutterflies.com/downloads/nymphalidae_charaxini.doc . dead .
2. Larsen, T.B. 2005 Butterflies of West Africa. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
3. Larsen, T.B. 1991 The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxii, 1-490.
4. Joicey, J.J., & Talbot, G. 1921. New Lepidoptera collected by Mr. T.A. Barns in east central Africa. Bulletin of the Hill Museum, Witley 1: 40-166.
5. White, R.S., & Grant, T.A. 1989. Descriptions of two new subspecies of Charaxes dilutus Rothschild from Malawi (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Lambillionea 89 (3-4): 35-39.
6. Kielland, J. 1990 Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.
7. Bouyer, T. . Zakharov, E.V. . Rougerie, R. . Vingerhoedt, E. . 2008 . Les Charaxes du groupe eupale: description d'un nouveau genre, révision et approche génétique (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Charaxinae) . Entomologia Africana . Hors Série No. 3 . 1–32.