''Libythea labdaca'', the African snout butterfly, is a member of the butterfly subfamily
Libytheinae
The Libytheinae are a nymphalid subfamily known as snout butterflies, containing two valid genera and about ten species: six in '' Libythea'' and four in ''Libytheana''. The common name refers to the thick labial palps (pedipalps) that look like ...
found in western and central
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
''
Libythea laius
''Libythea laius'', the lobed beak, is a member of the butterfly subfamily Libytheinae found in East Africa, Madagascar, southern India, and Sri Lanka. It was described by Roland Trimen
Roland Trimen FRS (29 October 1840 in London &ndash ...
'' was considered as a synonym earlier as it mostly similar to ''L. labdaca'' by sharing similar dorsal wing markings. But it differs from the latter in that the rectangular orange mark in discal cell apex is fused or separated from discal cell base.
It forms vast
migratory swarms (over 1 billion butterflies were estimated in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
). The butterflies move south in the spring and north in the autumn.
The larvae feed on ''
Celtis
''Celtis'' is a genus of about 60–70 species of deciduous trees, commonly known as hackberries or nettle trees, widespread in warm temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus is part of the extended hemp family (Cannabaceae).
...
'' species (including ''
C. kraussiana'' and ''
C. sayauxii'').
African beak (Libythea labdaca labdaca) 2.jpg, Bobiri Forest, Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
African beak (Libythea labdaca labdaca) underside 2.jpg, Bobiri Forest, Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
African beak (Libythea labdaca labdaca) puddling.jpg, puddling, Bobiri Forest, Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
Subspecies
*''Libythea labdaca labdaca'' (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Bioko, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, western Kenya, western Tanzania)
*''Libythea labdaca laius''
Trimen, 1879 (Ethiopia, eastern Kenya, eastern and northern Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland)
References
Sources
*Kawahara, A. Y. 2006. Biology of the snout butterflies (Nymphalidae, Libytheinae), Part 1: Libythea Fabricius. ''Transactions of the Lepidopterological Society of Japan'' 57:13-33.
* , 2013: Systematic revision and review of the extant and fossil snout butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Libytheinae). ''Zootaxa'' 3631 (1): 1-74. preview
External links
''Libytheana'' page at Tree of Life
Butterflies described in 1851
Libythea
{{Nymphalidae-stub