Charaxes lucretius

Charaxes lucretius
Charaxes lucretius intermedius - male
Charaxes lucretius intermedius - female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Charaxes
Species:	C. lucretius
Binomial name
Charaxes lucretius (Cramer, [1775])[1]
Synonyms
Papilio lucretius Cramer, [1775] Charaxes lucretius lucida Le Cerf, 1923 Charaxes lucretius f. caliginosa Le Cerf, 1923 Charaxes cynthia f. albofascia Le Cerf, 1923 Charaxes lucretius f. babingtoni Stoneham, 1943 Charaxes lucretius f. alberici Dufrane, 1945 Charaxes lucretius f. victoriaeincola Storace, 1948

Charaxes lucretius, the Violet-washed Charaxes or Common Red Charaxes, is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family.

Taxonomy

Charaxes lucretius group:

• Charaxes lucretius
• Charaxes octavus
• Charaxes odysseus
• Charaxes lactetinctus

Subspecies

• Charaxes lucretius lucretius (Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, western Nigeria)
• Charaxes lucretius intermedius van Someren, 1971 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia)
• Charaxes lucretius maximus van Someren, 1971 (Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, western Kenya, north-western Tanzania)
• Charaxes lucretius saldanhai Bivar de Sousa, 1983 (north-western Angola)
• Charaxes lucretius schofieldi Plantrou, 1989 (north-eastern Zambia)

Primary forest habitat in Tanzania

Distribution and habitat

It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Angola, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia.^[2] The habitat consists of primary forests.

Biology

Both sexes are attracted to fermenting fruit, but males are also attracted to animal droppings. The larvae feed on Annona senegalensis, Hugonia platysepala and Trema species.

References

1. Charaxes, Site of Markku Savela
2. Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini

• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1971 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)181-226.

External links

• Images of C. lucretius intermedius Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
• Images of C. lucretius maximus (Albertine Rift Project)
• Charaxes lucretius images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• Charaxes lucretius lucretius images at BOLD
• Charaxes lucretius maximus images at BOLD