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 ...
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
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 45–55 mm in males and 48–60 mm in females.
Biology
The habitat is
coastal scarp forest
Areas of forest which grow in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa mostly on south facing slopes in higher rainfall areas, and along the humid coastal areas. Different types of forest can be identified by their species composition which depends mostly ...
.
''pondoensis'' flies year-round, with peaks October/November and March to May.
Larvae feed on ''
Milletia sutherlandi
''Millettia'' is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae. It consists of about 150 species, which are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The genus was formerly known by the name ''Pongamia'', but that name was reje ...
'' and ''
Milletia grandis
''Millettia'' is a genus of legume in the family Fabaceae. It consists of about 150 species, which are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The genus was formerly known by the name ''Pongamia'', but that name was reje ...
''.
Notes on the biology of ''pondoensis'' are given by Pringle et al (1994)
Similar species
''
Charaxes ethalion
''Charaxes ethalion'', the satyr emperor or satyr charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern Africa.Charaxes karkloof
''Charaxes karkloof'', the Karkloof emperor, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in South Africa.Charaxes ethalion'' and ''
*Van Someren V.G.L 1967 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IV. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)277-31 285 plate 1