Charaxes legeri, the St. Leger's charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern Burkina Faso, northern Benin, northern Nigeria and southern Niger.[1] The habitat consists of woodland savanna at altitudes between 600 and 1,700 meters.
D’Abrera (1980) [2] and Henning (1989) [3] suggested that Charaxes legeri might be a hybrid between Charaxes epijasius and Charaxes castor Larsen (2005) [4] however, argues that Charaxes legeri is a distinct species.
Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "Charaxes jasius Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision,[5] corroborated by phylogenetic research, allow a more rational grouping congruent with cladistic relationships. Within a well-populated clade of 27 related species sharing a common ancestor approximately 16 mya during the Miocene, 26 are now considered together as The jasius Group.[5] One of the two lineages forms a robust clade of seven species sharing a common ancestor approximately 2-3 mya, i.e. during the Pliocene,[6] and are considered as the jasius subgroup.[5]
The jasius Group (26 Species)
Clade 1: jasius subgroup (7 species):[5]
Clade 2: contains the well-populated three additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group, called the brutus, pollux, and eudoxus subgroups.[5] Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing Charaxes taxa is required to improve clarity.
The larvae feed on Sorghum bicolor [= ''roxburghii'' ] and Annona species.