''Mesoxantha'' is a genus of
nymphalid
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 ...
butterflies
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 ...
.
[''Mesoxantha'']
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' It is
monotypic, containing only ''Mesoxantha ethosea'', the Drury's delight. It is found in
Sierra Leone,
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
,
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
,
Ghana,
Togo,
Nigeria,
Cameroon,
Gabon, the
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...
, the
Central African Republic,
Angola, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
,
Uganda,
Tanzania and
Mozambique.
The habitat consists of lowland forests, including secondary forests.
The larvae feed on ''
Tragia brevipes
''Tragia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is widespread across North and South America, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent, northern Australia, and to various islands in the Caribbean ...
'' and ''
Malacantha alnifolia
''Pouteria'' is a genus of flowering trees in the gutta-percha family, Sapotaceae. The genus is widespread throughout the tropical regions of the world. It includes the canistel ('' P. campechiana''), the mamey sapote ('' P. sapota''), and the lu ...
''.
Description
Upperside:
Antennae black.
Thorax,
abdomen, and wings deep brown, almost black; the disk of the anterior being white, and extending to the shoulders, all the middle part of the posterior being white likewise.
Underside:
Palpi grey. Breast and abdomen brown. Anterior wings next the body yellowish brown, but towards the tips inclining to grey; nerves black; the disk white, with a round black spot near the body, and another of a smaller size below it. The middle of the posterior wings is white, surrounded with brown, that part along the lower edges being darkest; next the body are five distinct black round spots, and an irregular shaped one at the middle of the upper edge; along the lower edges are a number of small triangular white spots. Margins of the posterior wings slightly dentated. Wingspan inches (57 mm).
Subspecies
*''Mesoxantha ethosea ethosea'' (Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo)
*''Mesoxantha ethosea ethoseoides''
Rebel, 1914 (Nigeria: south and the Cross River loop, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, eastern and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo)
*''Mesoxantha ethosea reducta''
Rothschild, 1918 (southern Sudan, Uganda, western Tanzania, possibly Mozambique)
References
Seitz, A. ''Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde'' 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 49
Butterflies described in 1782
Biblidinae
Descriptions from Illustrations of Exotic Entomology
Monotypic butterfly genera
Taxa named by Per Olof Christopher Aurivillius
Nymphalidae genera
{{Biblidinae-stub