Charaxes castor

Giant Emperor
male C. castor
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species: C. castor
Binomial name
Charaxes castor
(Cramer, [1775])[1]
Synonyms
  • Papilio castor Cramer, 1775 (not Westwood, 1842)
  • Charaxes castor var. godarti Aurivillius, 1899
  • Charaxes castor f. aginga Stoneham, 1931
  • Charaxes castor godarti f. severus Biederman, 1935
  • Charaxes castor f. flavimarginalis Stoneham, 1936
  • Charaxes castor var. flavifasciatus Butler, 1895
  • Charaxes castor var. orientalis Lanz, 1896
  • Charaxes castor flavifasciatus f. reimeri Rothschild, 1900
  • Charaxes castor flavifasciatus ab. dyscrita van Son, 1979

The Giant Emperor or Giant Charaxes (Charaxes castor) is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found throughout the Afrotropical ecozone below the Sahel.[2]

The wingspan is 75–85 mm in males and 85–105 mm in females. The flight period is year-round but more common in late summer to autumn.[3]

Description

Charaxes castor upper side from Toupé, Ivory coast
Charaxes castor underside from CAR
Charaxes castor upper side from Maka, CAR

A full description is given by Rothschild, W. And Jordan, K., 1900 Novitates Zoologicae Volume 7:287-524. page 436 et seq. (for terms see Novitates Zoologicae Volume 5:545-601 )

Life history

Larvae feed on Bridelia micrantha, Afzelia quanzensis, Tragia spp., Gymnosporia spp., Maytenus senegalensis, Schotia brachypetala, Bridelia micrantha and Cassia fistula.[2][3]

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.[2]

Taxonomy

The members of the Charaxes jasius group are:

References

  1. Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini
  2. 1 2 3 Charaxes, funet.fi
  3. 1 2 Woodhall, Steve. Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa, Cape Town:Struik Publishers, 2005

External links


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