Antanartia

Antanartia
A. schaeneia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Subfamily:	Nymphalinae
Tribe:	Nymphalini
Genus:	Antanartia Rothschild & Jordan, 1903

Antanartia, commonly called (African) Admirals, is a genus in the Nymphalidae family found in southern Africa. They live along forest edges and are strongly attracted to rotting fruit and plant juices.^[1] For other Admirals see genus, Vanessa. Recently, three species traditionally considered to be members of Antanartia have been moved to Vanessa based on molecular evidence.^[2] Antanartia borbonica was not sampled by the study, but was purported to belong in Antanartia based on morphological similarity.

Species

There are 3 species following Wahlberg et al, 2011^[3]

• Antanartia borbonica (Oberthür, 1880)
• Antanartia delius (Drury, 1782) – Orange Admiral
• Antanartia schaeneia (Trimen, 1879) – Long-tailed Admiral

Former species

• Antanartia abyssinica is now Vanessa abyssinica (Felder, 1867)
• Antanartia dimorphica is now Vanessa dimorphica (Howarth, 1966)
• Antanartia hippomene is now Vanessa hippomene (Hübner, 1823)

References

1. Woodhall, Steve. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town:Struik Publishers, 2005.
2. Wahlberg, Niklas; Rubinoff, Daniel (2011). "Vagility across Vanessa (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae): mobility in butterfly species does not inhibit the formation and persistence of isolated sister taxa.". Systematic Entomology 36 (2): 362–370. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2010.00566.x.
3. Wahlberg, Niklas; Rubinoff, Daniel (2011). "Vagility across Vanessa (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae): mobility in butterfly species does not inhibit the formation and persistence of isolated sister taxa.". Systematic Entomology 36 (2): 362–370. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2010.00566.x.