''Charaxes pollux'', the black-bordered 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 ...
.
Distribution and habitat
''Charaxes pollux'' can be 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 ...
, 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 ...
,
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 ...
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
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
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 ...
In ''Charaxes pollux'' forewings can reach a length of in males, of in females. The upperside of the forewings is tawny in the basal area, with a broad ochraceous orange post-discal band and a black wide border. The upperside of the hindwings is rather similar, but it has a whitish discal area and pale blue submarginal spots. The underside is red-chestnut, with a white discal band and a series of black bars bordered with white. The edge of the wings is sharply dentate.
Seitz-The discal band of the upper surface is dark orange-yellow; the tails of the hind
wing only 3—4 mm. in length; the hindwing above with a deep black, unspotted marginal band, 9—10 mm. in breadth; the forewing with small brown marginal spots. On the under surface the black, white-bordered spots are almost as numerous as in '' hansali'' and on the hindwing there are three in cellule 8 and two in cellule 7. Sierra Leone to Angola and Uganda. — ''geminus'' Rothsch. differs in having small brown marginal spots on the hindwing above, at least in cellules 4—6. Manicaland, Nyassaland, Kilimandjaro.
Similar to '' Charaxes ansorgei'' but male lacking a white band on the hindwing upperside
Gallery
File: Charaxes pollux recto.jpg , ''C. p. pollux'' from the
CAR
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as ...
- upperside
File: Charaxes pollux verso.jpg , ''C. p. pollux'' from the CAR - underside
File: Charaxes pollux.JPG , Illustration from ''Fauna Africana'' (1910)
Subspecies
Subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
include:
*''C. p. pollux'' (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, northern Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, northern and north-western Zambia, Rwanda, Burundi, southern Sudan, Uganda, western and central Kenya, western Tanzania)
*''C. p. annamariae'' Turlin, 1998 (Bioko)
*''C. p. gazanus'' van Someren, 1967 (Mozambique: west to area between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers), eastern Zimbabwe)
*''C. p. geminus'' Rothschild, 1900 (Malawi, Zambia: east of the Luangwa Valley), southern and eastern Tanzania, south-eastern Kenya)
*''C. p. maua'' van Someren, 1967 ( northern Tanzania)
*''C. p. mira'' Ackery, 1995 (north-eastern Tanzania)
*''C. p. piersoni'' Collins, 1990 ( Zanzibar)
Natural History
Life-sized colour plates and description of the larval and pupal stages of ''C. pollux'' and additional related species, illustrated by Dr. V. G. L. van Someren, are readily available. hosted by Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) The larvae feed on '' Sorindeia'' species, ''
Bersama abyssinica
''Bersama abyssinica'' is a species of medium-sized evergreen tree in the Francoaceae family. The leaves are pinnately divided with a strongly winged rachis (hence the common name winged bersama). The inflorescence is a spike.
This species is ...
'', Deinbollia kilimandsharica ', '' Deinbollia borbonica'', '' Fluggia microcarpa'', '' Securinega virosa'' and '' Fluggia virosa''.
Adults are probably on wing year round.
Notes on the biology of ''pollux'' are given by Pringle et al (1994), Larsen (1991), Larsen (2005) and Kielland (1990).
Larsen, T.B. 2005 ''Butterflies of West Africa''. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595 (text) & 1-270 (plates).
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 ''pollux'' subgroup (4 species):
*''Charaxes pollux''
*''
Charaxes phoebus
__NOTOC__
''Charaxes phoebus'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Ethiopia. The habitat consists of montane forests and woodland.
The larvae feed on ''Bersama abyssinica''.
Description
Upperside
Front wings ferruginous, ...
''
*''
Charaxes ansorgei
__NOTOC__
''Charaxes ansorgei'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Zambia. The habitat consists of montane forest on altitudes be ...
''
*''
Charaxes dowsetti
''Charaxes dowsetti'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found on the Nyika Plateau in Malawi. The habitat consists of montane forests at altitudes above 2,200 meters.
The larvae feed on ''Agarista salicifolia''.
Related species
Hi ...
''
Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing ''Charaxes'' taxa is required to improve clarity.
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 ...