''Charaxes vansoni'', the Van Son's emperor, 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. It is found in southern Africa.
["''Charaxes'' Ochsenheimer, 1816"]
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
The
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 48–56 mm in males and 50–60 mm in females.
Description
In males of ''Charaxes vansoni'' the two subapical spots on the forewing upperside are blue,
whereas in ''
Charaxes phaeus
''Charaxes phaeus'', the demon emperor or dusky charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern Africa.[sympatric
In biology, two related species or populations are considered sympatric when they exist in the same geographic area and thus frequently encounter one another. An initially interbreeding population that splits into two or more distinct species sh ...]
, they are white and the ground colour of the hindwing underside is pale coppery brown, with the silvery sheen comparatively reduced, extending only from the base along the costa and cell. In females of ''Charaxes vansoni'' the median band on the upperside may be white, greenish white or bluish. The spots on the forewing upperside vary from white to orange-ochre
[Pringle et al , 1994. Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa, 2nd edition]
Biology
It flies year-round, with peaks from February to May and in spring.
The habitat is dry savanna.
The
larvae
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
feed on ''
Peltophorum africanum''.
[
]
Taxonomy
''Charaxes vansoni'' is a member of the large species group ''Charaxes etheocles''
References
*Henning, S.F. (1979) History of some recently described ''Charaxes'' with the description and life history of ''Charaxes vansoni'' van Someren (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). ''Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation'' 91 (7-8):177-184. Explanation of status as full species
*Van Someren, V.G.L., 1969 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part V. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)75-16
page 129 description as female form of '' Charaxes phaeus, Charaxes viola phaeus'' page 137 Plate 21 figs 199, 200
*Van Someren, V.G.L., 1975 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'', ''Palla'' and ''Euxanthe'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part X. ''Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History'' (Entomology) 32 (3):65-13
page 108 sp. nov.
External links
Charaxes vansoni images
at Consortium for the Barcodes of life, BOLD
vansoni
Butterflies described in 1975
{{Charaxinae-stub