''Charaxes violetta'', the violet-spotted emperor or violet-spotted 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. It is found in southern Africa."''Charaxes'' Ochsenheimer, 1816"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' Species is double brooded from August to October and April to June. Larvae feed on ''

Blighia ''Blighia'' is a genus of four species of flowering plants in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, native to tropical Africa from Guinea east to Kenya. The fruit is partly edible, with the Ackee (''B. sapida'') being grown commercially for fruit p ...

unijugata'' and ''

Deinbollia ''Deinbollia'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Sapindaceae. Its native range is tropical and Southern Africa and islands in the western Indian Ocean. Its genus name of ''Deinbollia'' is in honour of Peter Vogelius Deinboll ...

'' species.

Full description

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 65–70 mm for males and 75–85 mm for females. Both sexes above almost exactly like the corresponding sexes of '' cithaeron'', but differing in the presence of a fine, nearly straight transverse line in the middle of the hindwing beneath, distally margined with white, in the male narrowly, in the female for a breadth of 2–3 mm. Delagoa Bay to Nyassaland and Mombasa.Larva green, sprinkled with minute yellowish dots; horns on the head bluish or violet; the dorsal spots grey or rust-coloured. *

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 ...

and Karl Jordan, 1900 ''Novitates Zoologicae'' volume 7:287-524

page 372 for terms see volume 5:545-60

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically: *''C. v. maritima'' van Someren, 1966 (coast of Kenya, Tanzania: north-east to the coast) *''C. v. melloni'' Fox, 1963 (Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, Malawi, eastern Tanzania) *''C. v. meru'' van Someren, 1966 (Kenya: north-eastern slopes of Mount Kenya and in the Njombeni Hills) *''C. v. violetta'' Grose-Smith, 1885 (southern Mozambique, South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal)

Realm

Afrotropical realm The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

Taxonomy

Charaxes tiridates ''Charaxes tiridates'', the common blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, the Repu ...

'' 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 numenes ''Charaxes numenes'', the lesser blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic o ...

'' - similar to next *''

Charaxes bipunctatus ''Charaxes bipunctatus'', the two-spot blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Repu ...

'' - similar to last *''Charaxes violetta'' *''

Charaxes fuscus ''Charaxes x fuscus'' is a naturally occurring hybrid between two sympatric species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It was found in the Central African Republic. The habitat consists of lowland evergreen forests. Described from a single ...

'' *'' 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 numenes'', the lesser blue charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic o ...

'' *''

Charaxes barnsi ''Charaxes barnsi'' is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found on the island of Príncipe. The species was named by James John Joicey and George Talbot in 1927. ''Charaxes barnsi'' is a large butterfly with a brown ground colour and ...

'' *''

Charaxes bohemani ''Charaxes bohemani'', the large blue emperor, large blue charaxes or divebomber charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in eastern and southern Africa (Angola, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswa ...

'' *'' 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 smaragdalis'', the western blue charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found from Senegal to Somalia, from Angola to Kenya and from Sudan to Egypt. The butterfly's wingspan is 85 to 100 mm. Adults are black wi ...

'' *'' Charaxes xiphares'' *''

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 ameliae'', the blue-spotted charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, ...

'' *''

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.

References

Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31
* Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1966 Revisional notes on African ''Charaxes'' (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part III. ''Bulletin of the British Museum'' (Natural History) (Entomology)45-10

External links

Images of ''C. v. violetta''
Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
Images of ''C. v. maritima''
(Albertine Rift Project)
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 ...

''Charaxes violetta''
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''C. v. maritima'' (verso)
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''C. v. melloni'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q5074131 violetta Butterflies described in 1885 Taxa named by Henley Grose-Smith Butterflies of Africa