Charaxes numenes

Charaxes numenes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Charaxes
Species:	C. numenes
Binomial name
Charaxes numenes (Hewitson, 1859)[1]
Synonyms
Nymphalis numenes Hewitson, 1859 Charaxes numenes f. obsolescens Stoneham, 1931 Charaxes numenes laticatena Le Cerf, 1932 Charaxes albimaculatus van Someren, 1972

Charaxes numenes, the Lesser Blue Charaxes, is a butterfly in the Nymphalidae family. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.^[2] The habitat consists of evergreen lowland forests.

Forest habitat in Tanzania

The larvae feed on Hugonia platysepela, Grewia mollis, Grewia forbesi, Grewia trichocarpa, Deinbollia fulvotomentella, Erythrina abyssinica, Erythrina excelsa, Allophylus, Blighia unijugata and Phialodiscus unijugatus.

Taxonomy

Charaxes tiridates group

the supposed clade members are

• Charaxes tiridates
• Charaxes numenes similar to next
• Charaxes bipunctatus similar to last
• Charaxes violetta
• Charaxes fuscus
• Charaxes mixtus
• Charaxes bubastis
• Charaxes albimaculatus
• Charaxes barnsi
• Charaxes bohemani
• Charaxes schoutedeni
• Charaxes monteiri
• Charaxes smaragdalis
• Charaxes xiphares
• Charaxes cithaeron
• Charaxes nandina
• Charaxes imperialis
• Charaxes ameliae
• Charaxes pythodoris
• ? Charaxes overlaeti

For a full list see Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013 ^[3]

Subspecies

• Charaxes numenes numenes (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, western Nigeria)
• Charaxes numenes aequatorialis van Someren, 1972 (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Central African Republic, southern Sudan, Uganda, western Kenya, western Tanzania)
• Charaxes numenes malabo Turlin, 1998 (Bioko)
• Charaxes numenes neumanni Rothschild, 1902 (southern and western Ethiopia)

• 

  Museum specimen ♂ dorsal side

• 

  Museum specimen ♂ △ - Ventral side

• 

  Museum specimen ♀ dorsal side

• 

  Museum specimen ♀ △ - Ventral side

References

1. Charaxes, Site of Markku Savela
2. Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini
3. "African Charaxes/Charaxes Africains Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013".

• Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31
• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1972 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VIII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)215-264. also as Charaxes albimaculatus

External links

• Images of C. numenes aequatorialis Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
• Images of C. numenes numenes (Albertine Rift Project)
• Charaxes numenes neumanni images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• Charaxes numenes aequatorialis at BOLD