Charaxes cithaeron

Charaxes cithaeron, the blue-spotted emperor or blue-spotted charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in south-east Africa.[1]

Blue-spotted emperor
Figure 2 male, 3 female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. cithaeron
Binomial name
Charaxes cithaeron
C. & R. Felder, 1859
Synonyms
  • Charaxes cithaeron cithaeron ab. whitei van Someren, 1975

The wingspan is 70–80 mm in males and 85–95 mm in females. Flight period is year-round.[2]

Larvae feed on Trema orientalis, Albizia adianthifolia, Celtis africana, Cola natalensis, Chaerachme aristata, Bafia racemosa, Afzelia quanzensis, Milletia sutherlandi, Maytenus senegalensis, and Craibia brevecaudatus.[1][2]

Charaxes cithaeron figured in Adalbert Seitz's Fauna Africana

Full description

A full description is given by Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan (1900). Novitates Zoologicae Volume 7:287-524. page 379-382 (for terms see Novitates Zoologicae Volume 5:545-601 )

Habitat

Forested areas from the coastal belt to the Kenya Highlands.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.[1]

  • C. c. cithaeron C. & R. Felder, 1859 (Tanzania, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland)
  • C. c. joanae van Someren, 1964 (Zambia, northern Zimbabwe and possibly the Tukuyu District of Tanzania)
  • C. c. kennethi Poulton, 1926 (coast of Kenya, eastern Tanzania)
  • C. c. nairobicus van Son, 1953 (Kenya: central highlands east of the Rift Valley)
  • C. c. nyasae van Someren, 1964 (Malawi)

References
  1. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
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