''Acraea oberthueri'', Oberthuer's 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 ...

in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

(

Mbini Mbini is a town in Río Muni, Equatorial Guinea, lying at the mouth of the Benito River. ''Mbini'' is the Ndowe This article is about the demographic features of the population of Equatorial Guinea, including population density, ethnicity, e ...

and Bioko), the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

, the southern and eastern part of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

and western

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

Description

''A. oberthueri'' Btlr. (56 c, d) may be easily known by the numerous free basal and discal dots on the under surface of the hindwing. The upper surface is blackish brown-grey with the usual markings light ochre-yellow; cell of the forewing without light markings; subapical band composed of three spots in cellules 4 to 6; hindmarginal spot narrow and of almost uniform breadth, composed of spots in 1a, 1b, 2 (and 3), the spot in 2 not covering the base of the cellule. Hindwing with an ochre-yellow median band, which is as broad as the hindmarginal spot of the fore wing and joins on to this spot; the distal part has more or less distinct longitudinal stripes, corresponding to those of the under surface. The distal half of the under surface between the veins with thick black rays, which are bifurcate at the distal margin and are separated from the veins by light lines.

to the Congo. * In ab. ''confluens'' Suff. the subapical band of the forewing is joined to the hindmarginal spot in cellule 3. Among the type-form. * Larva slate-grey with red-yellow head, the spines of segments 2 to 5 and the upper spines of segments 10 to 13 black; those of segments 6 to 9 and the lower ones on segments 10 to 13 yellowish; lives on one of the Tiliaceae, '' Ancistrocarpus densispinosus''. * Pupa white with two dorsal and two lateral rows of orange-yellow, black-ringed spots and black lines on the wing-cases.

Biology

The habitat consists of dense forests and mature secondary growth. It is

mimicked In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry f ...

by females of ''

Mimacraea apicalis ''Mimacraea apicalis'', the central acraea mimic, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. Adult males mimic ''Bematistes tellus ''Bematistes tellus'', the orange bematistes ...

''. The larvae feed on ''

Ancistrocarpus densispinosus ''Ancistrocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Malvaceae. Its native range is Nigeria to Western Central Tropical Africa. Species: * ''Ancistrocarpus bequaertii'' De Wild. * ''Ancistrocarpus comperei ''Ancistrocar ...

'' and ''

Grewia ''Grewia'' is a large flowering plant genus in the mallow family Malvaceae, in the expanded sense as proposed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. Formerly, Grewia was placed in either the family Tiliaceae or the Sparrmanniaceae. However, these ...

'' species.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the ''Acraea oberthueri'' 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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Etymology

The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

honours

Charles Oberthür Charles Oberthür (14 September 1845 – 1 June 1924) was a French amateur entomologist specializing in lepidoptera. Biography Charles Oberthür was born in Rennes, the son of the printer François-Charles Oberthür and Marie Hamelin, and brot ...

References

External links

''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 56
''c'', ''d''
Images representing ''Acraea oberthueri''
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 ...

''Acraea oberthueri''
at Pteron Butterflies described in 1895 oberthueri Butterflies of Africa {{Heliconiinae-stub