''Charaxes penricei'', the scarce savanna 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 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 ...

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

, 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

and

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 ...

Description

The original description written 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 ...

is on page 460 of Rothschild, W. and Jordan, K. (1898). A monograph of ''Charaxes'' and the allied prionopterous genera. ''Novitates Zoologicae'' Volume 5:545-60

1899 Volume 6: 220-28

1900 Volume 7:287-524

Descriptions and plates (monochrome photos). Seitz- ''Ch. penricei'' Rothsch. Male: the under surface is marked almost as in '' Charaxes etesipe, etesipe'' ; but above the transverse band, as in the female of ''etesipe'', is placed nearly in the middle of the hindwing and further from the distal margin than in ''etesipe'' male ; it is white or bluish white and from vein 2 of the hindwing to vein 2 of the forewing broad and continuous, then broken up into small spots, two each in cellules 2, 3 and 6 and one each in cellules 4, 5, 7 and in the cell; the ground-colour of the upper surface is bluish black. The female is unknown. This rare species has hitherto only been found in Angola. — ''peculiaris'' Lathy only differs from the type-form in having the black colour replaced by greenish. Rhodesia. Similar to ''

Charaxes etesipe ''Charaxes etesipe'', the savannah charaxes or scarce forest emperor, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Description The wingspan is for male. The females are larger, reaching . The uppersides of the forewings are blackish blue with a g ...

'' but upperside median band further from the wing margins

Subspecies

*''Charaxes penricei penricei'' (eastern Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, southern Tanzania, Malawi, eastern Zimbabwe) *''Charaxes penricei dealbata'' van Someren, 1966(Congo, north-western Angola, western Democratic Republic of the Congo) *''Charaxes penricei tanganyikae'' van Someren, 1966 (western Tanzania)

Biology

The habitat consists of savanna, especially ''

Brachystegia ''Brachystegia'' is a genus of tree of the subfamily Detarioideae that is native to tropical Africa. Trees of the genus are commonly known as miombo, and are dominant in the miombo woodlands of central and southern tropical Africa. The Zambezian ...

'' woodland (

Miombo The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

). The larvae feed on ''

Entada ''Entada'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, in the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It consists of some 30 species of trees, shrubs and tropical lianas. About 21 species are known from Africa, six from A ...

'' species and ''

Securidaca longipedunculata ''Securidaca longipedunculata'' (violet tree, af, krinkhout, bm, satene, tn, mmaba, ve, mpesu, yo, ìpẹ̀ta) is a species of tree in the genus ''Securidaca''. It is most commonly found in the tropical and subtropical areas of Africa, and ...

''. Notes on the biology of ''penricei'' are given by Pringle et al (1994). .

Taxonomy

Closely related to ''

Charaxes cacuthis ''Charaxes cacuthis'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found on Madagascar. The habitat consists of lowland and coastal forests. Charaxes cacuthis up290209.jpg , recto Charaxes cacuthis down290209.jpg , verso Description A full ...

'' and ''

'' Kielland, J. 1990 ''Butterflies of Tanzania''. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363 ''Charaxes penricei'' is a member of the

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 ...

''Charaxes etesipe''. The

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, ...

members are: *''

'' (nominate) *''Charaxes penricei'' *'' Charaxes achaemenes'' *'' Charaxes paradoxa'' *''

'' *'' Charaxes bwete'' *'' Charaxes cristalensis''

References

* Van Someren, Victor Gurney Logan (1966). Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part III. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology) 45-10

*Van Someren, Victor Gurney Logan (1969). Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part V. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology) 75-166

Additional notes.

External links

Images of ''C. penricei penricei''

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)
Images of ''C. penricei tanganyikae''
(Albertine Rift Project)
''Charaxes penricei'' 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 penricei penricei'' images
at BOLD
''Charaxes'' cf. ''penricei'' images
at BOLD {{Taxonbar, from=Q5074083 Butterflies described in 1900 penricei Butterflies of Africa Taxa named by Walter Rothschild