''Charaxes smaragdalis'', the western blue 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 from
Senegal
Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 井仆井內丐中五 (Senegaali); Arabic: 塈堻媞塈 ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''R矇ewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 井仆不丐仆不五 ...
to
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: ; ar, 塈媯塈, a廜-廜〣匍l officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
, from
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
to
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
and from
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, 塈堻堹塈, as-S贖dn, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, 堿堭堜 塈堻堹塈, link=no, Jumh贖riyyat as-S贖dn), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
to
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, 媯堭 , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
.
The butterfly's
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 777200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
is 85 to 100 mm. Adults are black with white and blue bands and spots. The hindwings each have two little tails.
Description
''Ch. smaragdalis'' Btlr. Both wings above from the base to the apex of the cell black with greenish or bluish reflection, then follows in the male a blue half-band, about 10 mm. in breadth, between the hindmargin and vein 2 or 3 and in each cellule from 37 two very widely separated spots, all blue except the distal ones in cellules 6 and 7; in the female there is in the middle a white transverse band, 7 mm. in breadth, running obliquely from the costal margin towards the hinder angle and reaching vein 1; the outer row of spots, which runs almost parallel with the distal margin in the male, is almost identical in the female. The hindwing has
behind the apex of the cell a blue transverse band 12 (male)15 (female) mm. in breadth and is black at the distal margin with blue-white submarginal spots and marginal line. The under surface is dark grey-brown, marked almost as in ''
bohemanni''. Niger to Angola and Uganda. The blue transverse band on the upperside of the hindwing is narrower and everywhere completely separated from the blue marginal line. Sierra Leone to the Gold Coast.
See
External links
An internal link is a type of hyperlink on a web page to another page or resource, such as an image or document, on the same website or domain.
Hyperlinks are considered either "external" or "internal" depending on their target or destination ...
for the original description by
Arthur Gardiner Butler
Arthur Gardiner Butler F.L.S., F.Z.S. (27 June 1844 28 May 1925) was an English entomologist, arachnologist and ornithologist. He worked at the British Museum on the taxonomy of birds, insects, and spiders.
Biography
Arthur Gardiner Butl ...
published in 1866 in ''The Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London''.
Biology
Its habitat is
(lowland rainforest in the west, gallery forest in the south, and patches of lowland and montane forest in the east).
Taxonomy
''
Charaxes tiridates'' group.
The supposed
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:
*''
Charaxes tiridates''
*''
Charaxes numenes'' - similar to next
*''
Charaxes bipunctatus'' - similar to last
*''
Charaxes violetta''
*''
Charaxes fuscus''
*''
Charaxes mixtus''
*''
Charaxes bubastis
''Charaxes mixtus'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.
Description
''Ch. mixtus'' Rothsch. The ma ...
''
*''
Charaxes albimaculatus''
*''
Charaxes barnsi''
*''
Charaxes bohemani''
*''Charaxes schoutedeni''
*''
Charaxes monteiri
''Charaxes monteiri'' is a rare tropical butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, belonging to the Charaxinae subfamily or leafwing butterflies. It was described by Otto Staudinger in 1885.
Description
''Charaxes monteiri'' presents an important sex ...
''
*''Charaxes smaragdalis''
*''
Charaxes xiphares
''Charaxes xiphares'', the forest king emperor or forest king charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is native to Afromontane forest in the eastern and southern Afrotropical realm.
Description
The wingspan is 6580 mm fo ...
''
*''
Charaxes cithaeron
''Charaxes cithaeron'', the blue-spotted emperor or blue-spotted charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in south-east Africa.[Charaxes nandina
''Charaxes nandina'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Kenya, in the central highlands east of the Rift Valley.
Description
''Ch. nandina'' Rothsch. : forewing above black, behind the middle of the hindmargin with an oblon ...]
''
*''
Charaxes imperialis
''Charaxes imperialis'', the imperial blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo ...
''
*''
Charaxes ameliae''
*''
Charaxes pythodoris
''Charaxes pythodoris'', the powder-blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Angola, the Democrati ...
''
*? ''
Charaxes overlaeti
''Charaxes overlaeti'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya.
Taxonomy
Known only from the holotype and a similar specimen captured in Kenya.
''Charaxes overlaeti'' may be a hybr ...
''
For a full list see Eric Vingerhoedt, 2013.
Subspecies
*''C. s. smaragdalis'' (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Congo, Zaire)
*''C. s. butleri''
Rothschild, 1900 (Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Liberia)
*''C. s. caerulea''
Carpenter & Jackson, 1950 (eastern Zaire, south-western Uganda)
*''C. s. elgonae''
van Someren, 1964 (Uganda)
[
*''C. s. gobyae'' Plantrou, 1988C. s. gobyae Plantrou, 1988 (south-eastern Sudan)][
*''C. s. homonymus'' Bryk, F. 1939 (south-west Kenya , north Tanzania)
*''C. s. kagera'' van Someren, 1964 (north-western Tanzania, south-western Uganda)][
*''C. s. kigoma'' van Someren, 1964 (Tanzania)][
*''C. s. leopoldi'' Ghesqui癡re, 1933(northern Angola, eastern Congo, south-western Zaire)][
*''C. s. metu'' van Someren, 1964 (south-western Sudan, northern Uganda)][
*''C. s. toro'' van Someren, 1964 (western Uganda)][
*''C. s. allardi'' Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, 1997 ][Bouyer & Vingerhoedt, E. 1997. Description dune nouvelle sous-espece de ''Charaxes smaragdalis'' Butler, 1865 (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). ''Entomologia Africana '' 2 (2): 32-33, 36-39.][
]
References
Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31
*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 ...
, 1964 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part II. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)181-23
*Van Someren, 1969 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part V. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)75-16
Additional notes
External links
Original descriptionImages of ''C. s. allardi''
Royal Museum for Central Africa
The Royal Museum for Central Africa or RMCA ( nl, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika or KMMA; french: Mus矇e royal de l'Afrique centrale or MRAC; german: K繹nigliches Museum f羹r Zentralafrika or KMZA), also officially known as the AfricaMuse ...
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. caerulea''
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. kagera''
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. kigoma''
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. leopoldi''
(Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. s. smaragdalis''
(Albertine Rift Project)
"''Charaxes'' Ochsenheimer, 1816"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
''Charaxes smaragdalis'' images
at Bold
In typography, emphasis is the strengthening of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text, to highlight them. It is the equivalent of prosody stress in speech.
Methods and use
The most common methods in W ...
''C. s. allardi'' images
at BOLD
''C. s. butleri'' images
at BOLD
''C. s. caerulea'' images
at BOLD includes verso
''C. s. elgonae'' images
at BOLD
''C. s. homonymus'' images
at BOLD
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5074107
Butterflies described in 1866
smaragdalis
Butterflies of Africa
Taxa named by Arthur Gardiner Butler