''Acraea anacreon'', the (large) orange acraea, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

and

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

and from

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

and to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Elsewhere in Africa and adjacent regions, "orange acraea" refers to the smaller '' A. eponina''.

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 40–50 mm for males and 45–55 mm for females. ''A. anacreon'' Trim. (55 a). Wings above in the male orange-yellow, in the female grey-yellow to violet-grey, often darker on the forewing; both wings above with dark marginal band, which encloses large, light, sharply defined marginal spots; the veins at the proximal side of the marginal bands distinctly thickened with black; the black dot in the cell of the hindwing is always placed in the distal half of the cell; the hindwing beneath with light yellow ground-colour, at the base of cellules 1 c and 8 always red, often also with red spots in the other cellules between the black dots. The discal dots in 4 to 6 of the forewing are well developed and the ground-colour sometimes much lighter beyond them. South Africa to the Transvaal, Nyassaland and German East Africa. - ''anacreontica'' Smith ow species ''Acraea anacreontica''">Acraea_anacreontica.html" ;"title="ow species ''Acraea anacreontica">ow species ''Acraea anacreontica''(55 b?) is very similar to the type-form, but differs in the lighter ground-colour of the upper surface, smaller discal dots and better developed red spots between the black dots on the underside of the hindwing. British East Africa. - ''bomba'' Smith [ now species ''Acraea bomba'' ] differs in the forewing above having a black apical spot 4 to 8 mm. in breadth, not or indistinctly spotted, and lacking discal dots (3) 4 to 6. In the dry-season form the apical spot of the forewing is only about 4 mm. in breadth and the wings above are not darkened at the base; in the rainy-season form, ''induna'' Trim. (55 b), on the other hand, the apical spot of the forewing is 7 to 8 mm. in breadth and the wings, especially the hindwing, are broadly blackish at the base above. Angola and Rhodesia to British East Africa. - ''speciosa'' Wichgr. has the ground-colour of the upper surface brighter brown-red and the marginal band of the fore wing above is only indicated by the thickened black veins; the under surface brightly coloured with well developed red spots on the hindwing; otherwise agreeing with the type-form. Angola.

Subspecies

*'' Acraea speciosa'' Wichgraf, 1909 subspecies according to Pierre & Bernau, 2014

Biology

Adults are on wing from October to May, with a peak in February. There are usually multiple generations per year, but only one (with adults on wing in February) in high mountains. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e feed on '' Cliffortia linearifolia'', ''

Aeschynomene ''Aeschynomene'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Dalbergia'' clade of the Dalbergieae. They are known commonly as jointvetches. These legumes are most common in warm ...

'' and ''

Adenia ''Adenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the passionflower family, Passifloraceae. It is distributed in the Old World tropics and subtropics.

'' species.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the ''

Acraea rahira ''Acraea rahira'', the marsh acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern Africa. In South Africa it is found from the Western Cape along the coast to the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, then inland to Mpumalanga, Gau ...

'' species group.- but see also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 Pierre & Bernau, 2014 Classification et Liste Synonymique des Taxons du Genre ''Acraea'
pdf
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References

External links

''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 55
''a''
Images representing ''Acraea anacreon''
at

Bold In typography, emphasis is the strengthening of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text, to highlight them. It is the equivalent of prosody stress in speech. Methods and use The most common methods in W ...

anacreon Anacreon (; grc-gre, Ἀνακρέων ὁ Τήϊος; BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ...

Butterflies described in 1868 Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Roland Trimen {{Heliconiinae-stub