__NOTOC__
''Charaxes eudoxus'', the Eudoxus 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 ...
in 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
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
,
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
,
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
,
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 ...
,
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...
, 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 ...
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 ...
, the
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...
,
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
,
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
,
Rwanda
Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
,
Burundi
Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...
,
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
and
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
''Ch. eudoxus'' differs from the '' Charaxes druceanus'' in having the median band on the upperside of the forewing completely bordered on both sides by the deep black-brown ground-colour and towards the costal margin much narrowed but almost straight. The basal third of both wings above is dark red-brown; the red-yellow marginal spots are large and on the hindwing united into a marginal band. On the under surface of the hindwing the silver-white median band is narrow with yellowish spots along the middle and in the basal area the black centres of the silvery streaks and spots are entirely or almost entirely absent. A very rare species. — ''eudoxus''
Drury has the median band on the upperside of the forewing rather broad and in cellules 4—7 also composed of rounded spots; on the under surface this band is lighter than the ground-colour and distinctly defined. Pupa unicolorous green, with yellowish spiracles and orange-yellow cremaster. Sierra Leone to Cameroons.— In ''mechowi'' Rothsch. the median band of the upper surface is placed very near to the distal margin and in cellules 2—6 is very narrowly linear; on the under surface, except at the hindmargin in cellules 1 a and 1 b, it is red-brown and not lighter than the ground-colour. Angola and the southern Congo region.
Biology
The habitat consists of forests, including gallery and riverine forests.
The larvae feed on ''
Schefflera
''Schefflera'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. With an estimated 600–900 species, the genus represents about half of its family. The plants are trees, shrubs or lianas, growing tall, with woody stems, the absence of ...
'', ''
Syzygium
''Syzygium'' () is a genus of flowering plants that belongs to the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus comprises about 1200 species, and has a native range that extends from Africa and Madagascar through southern Asia east through the Pacific. I ...
Garcinia
''Garcinia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Clusiaceae native to Asia, America, Australia, tropical and southern Africa, and Polynesia. The number of species is disputed; Plants of the World Online (POWO) recognise up to 400. Common ...
'' species.Notes on the biology of ''eudoxus'' are given by Kielland, J. (1990) and Larsen, T.B. (1991)
Subspecies
*''C. e. eudoxus'' (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, western Nigeria)
*''C. e. amaurus'' Poulton, 1929 (western Kenya)
*''C. e. biokoensis'' Canu, 1989 (Bioko)
*''C. e. boersmana'' Plantrou, 1980 (Nigeria: north to central)
*''C. e. cabacus'' Jordan, 1925 (Uganda: north-west shores of Lake Victoria)
*''C. e. goubandana'' Nicat, 2002 (Guinea)
*''C. e. imatongensis'' Plantrou, 1982 (Sudan: south to Imatong Mountains)
*''C. e. katerae'' Carpenter, 1937 (Uganda: south to the western shores of Lake Victoria, north-western Tanzania)
*''C. e. lequeuxi'' Plantrou, 1982 (Rwanda, Burundi)
*''C. e. mechowi'' Rothschild, 1900 (eastern Nigeria, south-western Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, north-western Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic)
*''C. e. mitchelli'' Plantrou & Howarth, 1977 (Zambia)
*''C. e. raffaellae'' Plantrou, 1982 (north-western Tanzania, possibly Burundi)
*''C. e. zambiae'' van Someren, 1970 Van Someren 1970. Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. ''Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)'' 25:197-250 (Zambia: eastern side of the upper Luangwa Valley)
Related species
Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "''Charaxes jasius'' Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision, corroborated by phylogenetic research, allow a more rational grouping congruent with cladistic relationships. Within a well-populated
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
of 27 related species sharing a common ancestor approximately 16 mya during the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
, 26 are now considered together as The ''jasius'' Group. One of the two lineages within this clade forms a robust
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
group of seven species sharing a common ancestor approximately 2-3 mya, i.e. during the
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58"Out of Africa again: A phylogenetic hypothesis of the genus ''Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)'' based on five gene regions" Aduse-Poku, Vingerhoedt, Wahlberg. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2009) 53;463–478 and are considered as the ''jasius'' subgroup. The second lineage leads to 19 other species within the Jasius group, which are split in to three well-populated subgroups of closely related species.
The ''jasius'' Group (26 Species):
Clade 1: ''jasius'' subgroup (7 species)
Clade 2: contains the well-populated three additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group: called the ''brutus'', ''pollux'', and ''eudoxus'' subgroups.
*the ''eudoxus'' subgroup (11 species):
*''Charaxes eudoxus''
*'' Charaxes lucyae''
*''
Charaxes richelmanni
__NOTOC__
''Charaxes richelmanni'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. The habitat consists of lowland eve ...
Charaxes phraortes
''Charaxes phraortes'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in north-eastern Madagascar. The habitat consists of wet coastal forests.
Description
Similar to '' pollux'' and ''phoebus'', but has the tails on the hindwing much lo ...
''
*''
Charaxes andranodorus
__NOTOC__
''Charaxes andranodorus'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found on Madagascar.
Description
This rare species is one of the most magnificent forms of ''Charaxes''. Above it agrees very nearly with ''phraortes'', the bas ...
''
*'' Charaxes andrefana'' tat.rev.2025ref name="Turlin 2005"/>
Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing ''Charaxes'' taxa is required to improve clarity.
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 ...
, 1970 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)197-25
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 ...
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 ...