''Charaxes bohemani'', the large blue emperor, large blue charaxes or divebomber charaxes, 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 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 eastern and southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

(Angola, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa)."''Charaxes'' Ochsenheimer, 1816"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''

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 65–75 mm in males and 78–95 mm in females. Both wings above in the basal part glossy blue; on the forewing the blue colour reaches to the base of vein 3 and is distally out off straight but obliquely, on the hindwing it extends far beyond the middle; before the apex of the forewing two white subapical spots; the apical area is otherwise unicolorous black in the male but has in the female a broad white transverse band, placed close beyond the blue colour and extending from the costal margin to vein 1. On the hindwing the costal and distal margins are broadly black, the latter with a fine blue marginal line, partly whitish in the female, and blue submarginal dots; the inner margin grey to vein 2. The under surface is grey to brown-grey with black, white-edged transverse streaks, which on the hindwing do not form a continuous line. German South-West Africa to the Congo and eastwards to Massailand.Aurivillius, .O.. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. ''Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde'' Band 13: Abt. 2, ''Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter'', 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart. A full description is given by

Walter Rothschild Lionel Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild, Baron de Rothschild, (8 February 1868 – 27 August 1937) was a British banker, politician, zoologist and soldier, who was a member of the Rothschild family. As a Zionist leader, he was present ...

and Karl Jordan, 1900 ''Novitates Zoologicae'' Volume 7:287-524

page 374-376 (for terms see ''Novitates Zoologicae'' Volume 5:545-60

Biology

Their flight period is year-round. The

larvae 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 ...

feed on ''

Afzelia quanzensis ''Afzelia quanzensis'' (pod mahogany, af, peulmahonie, ve, mutokota, zu, inkehli) is a protected tree in South Africa. This deciduous tree can grow up to 20m in height, and has smooth, grey bark, which can flake in irregular patches. It has glo ...

'', ''

Brachystegia spiciformis ''Brachystegia spiciformis'', commonly known as zebrawood, or msasa, is a medium-sized African tree having compound leaves and racemes of small fragrant green flowers. The tree is broad and has a distinctive amber and wine red colour when the y ...

'', ''

Julbernardia globiflora ''Julbernardia globiflora'' is a tropical African tree widespread at moderate altitudes in Miombo woodland to the south and east of the equatorial forest region of the Congo basin. Its common name is mnondo. It is ecologically important over wid ...

'', ''

Philenoptera violacea ''Philenoptera violacea'' known also as apple leaf or rain tree, af, Appelblaar, st, Mphata, ts, Mohata, zu, Isihomohomo, IsiNdebele: Ichithamuzi, Idungamuzi, Iphanda) is a plant species in the legume family (Fabaceae). Habitat It is found ...

'', ''

Dalbergia nitidula ''Dalbergia'' is a large genus of small to medium-size trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic ''Dalbergia'' clade (or tribe): the Dalbergieae. The g ...

'', ''

Scotia brachypetala Scotia is a Latin placename derived from ''Scoti'', a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century.Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698 The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around ...

'', and '' Xeroderris stuhlmanni''.

References

Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren (1886 in Melbourne – 24 July 1976) was a zoologist and entomologist. Van Someren was born in Australia. He attended George Watson's College and studied zoology at University of Edinburgh. He was also a dentist ...

, 1971 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VII. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)181-22

External links

Images of ''C. bohemani''

Royal Museum for Central Africa The Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA ( nl, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika or KMMA; french: Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale or MRAC; german: Königliches Museum für Zentralafrika or KMZA), also officially known as the AfricaMuse ...

(Albertine Rift Project)
''Charaxes bohemani '' images
at

Consortium for the Barcode of Life The Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) was an international initiative dedicated to supporting the development of DNA barcoding as a global standard for species identification. CBOL's Secretariat Office is hosted by the National Museum of ...

''Charaxes bohemani matakall'' images
at BOLD
African Butterfly Database
Range map via search Butterflies described in 1859 bohemani {{Charaxinae-stub