''Acraea uvui'', the tiny acraea or tiny mountain acraea, is a

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

of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

. It is found in

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 ...

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

, northern

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 ...

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

, Rwanda,

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

, Burundi and eastern

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

. The habitat consists of sub-montane forests at altitudes ranging from 1,200 to 1,400 meters. Adult males

mud-puddle Mud-puddling, or simply puddling, is a behaviour most conspicuous in butterflies, but occurs in other animals as well, mainly insects; they seek out nutrients in certain moist substances such as rotting plant matter, mud and carrion and they suc ...

and are also attracted to urine and animal excrement. The larvae feed on '' Triumfetta'' species (including '' T. rhomboidea'' and '' T. macrophylla'') and '' Sparmannia ricinocarpa''.

Subspecies

*''Acraea uvui uvui'' (Democratic Republic of the Congo: east to Ituri and Kivu, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, northern Tanzania) *''Acraea uvui balina'' Karsch, 1892 (Nigeria, Cameroon, highlands of Angola)

Description

Wingspan 30–34 mm. Forewing black. A subapical patch of tawny red narrow in 10, 9, and 6, and widened to about double the width in 5 and 4. A central inner marginal patch of the same colour occupying the central part of la and lb, rather more than the basal half of 2, extending slightly into 3 at its base, and into lower part of distal end of cell. Hindwing with a black triangular basal patch, central area tawny red often inclining to yellow at inner margin, somewhat indenting the basal patch at upperside of cell. Hind margin with a black border about 2 mm wide, its inner edge deeply indented by the red colour in 4 and 5, above this point somewhat convex, and below running horizontally across to inner margin. Underside very like that of ''bonasia alicia'' Forewing. Basal half pale reddish yellow with dusky indications of the basal black of upperside. The subapical patch ochre yellow, its proximal edge straight or even concave. Remainder of wing brownish black. Hindwing ochre yellow with a greenish tinge at base. Some irregular black at base of wing and a small basal spot in cell. At about the level of middle of cell a transverse band of irregular confluent black spots usually divisible into five rather large subquadrate marks in 7, cell, 1c, lb, and la. Hind marginal border as on upperside though occasionally slightly narrower. A marginal series of small white subtriangular spots. Head and thorax black with two brownish tufts on collar. Abdomen black with very minute pale lateral spots and segmental lines. Claws unequal.

Description in Seitz

''A. uvui'' Sm. (56 b) is a small species and may be known by having the markings of the upper surface yellow-red (only at the inner margin of the hindwing light yellow) and the proximal edge of the hindmarginal spot of the fore wing straight and sharply defined; it covers the base of cellule 2 and also forms a small spot in 3 and in the apex of the cell. In the type-form the hindwing has on the underside no red streaks between the basal dots and no light stripes in the black marginal band; the subapical band of the fore wing is nearly straight. German and British East Africa; Uganda. - ''balina'' Karsch (56 b). Spots 4 and 5 of the subapical band of the forewing are elongate and the band consequently almost angled at vein 6; the hind- wing beneath with 1 or 2 red streaks or spots between the black dots in the cell and in cellule 8 and at least with indications of light streaks in the marginal band. Cameroons and Angola. - ''interruptella'' Strand is an intermediate form and is characterized by having the large black dots near the base of the hindwing beneath free and in cellule 8 absent and by the marginal band having yellow or reddish spots at the proximal end of the light marginal spots. German East Africa.

Taxonomy

''Acraea uvui'' is a member of the ''Acraea bonasia''

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

; see '' Acraea''. 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 56
''b'' and also ''b'' as ''balina''.
Acraea uvui
Le Site des Acraea de Dominique Bernaud
Acraea balina''
Le Site des Acraea de Dominique Bernau

at Pteron {{Taxonbar, from=Q4675022 Butterflies described in 1890 uvui Butterflies of Africa