Charaxes fulvescens, the forest pearl charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae.
Charaxes varanes group. Subgenus Stonehamia (Hadrodontes)The group members are:
Subspecies include:
This species is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.[5]
These butterflies usually occur in dense evergreen forests at low to moderate altitudes. Occasionally inhabits savanna.[5] In Tanzania it is found at altitudes of 800to [6]
Charaxes fulvescens can reach a wingspan of about .[7] The inner half of the wings is white. Outside the white area of the upperside, the wings are orange to brown, with a pattern of lighter and darker flecks. The underside of the wings mimics a dead leaf. A sepia brown straight line divides the under wing in two areas. The inner area is light beige with several curved, interrupted, grey brown wavy lines. The outer area of the underside of the hindwing has a large eyespot and shows a well developed outer spur. Males and females are similar.[8]
Ch. fulvescens. Distal margin of the forewing in the first three races nearly straight. Forewing above in the basal part light yellow. Hindwing not angled at vein 2. Upper surface of both wings darker in the marginal part than in varanes.- fulvescens Auriv. Both wings beneath light straw-yellow at the base. Sierra Leone to Gaboon. monitor Rothsch. Wings beneath yellow-grey or olive-coloured at the base. Congo to Uganda and German East Africa. - comoranus Auriv.[= ''Charaxes fulvescens'' ssp. ''saperanus'' Poulton, 1926 = ''[[Charaxes saperanus]]]. Basal area of both wings above uniform light orange- yellow without white; the inner spots in the black distal part of the forewing above much produced transversely; the dark marginal band on the upperside of the hindwing much narrower than in the other races. Comoros: Mayotte. - acuminatus Thurau. [Now species] 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. [9]
The larvae feed on Allophylus species, including A. macrobothrys, A. africanus, A. macrostachys and A. subcoriaceus.[5] Notes on the biology of fulvescens are provided by Larsen, T.B. (1991) and (2005) [10] [11]