''Hypolimnas dexithea'' (Madagascar diadem) is a species of ''

Hypolimnas ''Hypolimnas'' is a genus of tropical brush-footed butterflies commonly known as eggflies or diadems. The genus contains approximately 23 species, most of which are found in Africa, Asia, and Oceania. One species, the Danaid eggfly (''H. misipp ...

'' butterfly

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. The species was described in 1863 by

William Chapman Hewitson William Chapman Hewitson (9 January 1806, in Newcastle upon Tyne – 28 May 1878, in Oatlands Park, Surrey) was a British naturalist. A wealthy collector, Hewitson was particularly devoted to Coleoptera (beetles) and Lepidoptera (butterflies ...

from a specimen collected by J. Caldwell from

Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...

in Madagascar. It later became one of the species targeted by collectors on account of its size and colour.

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dexithea ''Dexithea'' is a genus of beetles in the family Cerambycidae The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns, are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by e ...

Butterflies of Africa Endemic fauna of Madagascar Lepidoptera of Madagascar Butterflies described in 1863 Taxa named by William Chapman Hewitson {{Nymphalinae-stub