Charaxes pleione

Description

Hindwing between the anal angle and vein 4 nearly straight, at vein 2 feebly angled but not tailed, at vein 4 with a short tail, only about 3 mm in length. Wings above red-brown; apex and distal margin of the forewing more or less broadly black. Wings beneath with a common dark transverse line, extending from the costal margin of the forewing, just before the apex, to the anal angle of the hindwing. Costal margin of the forewing beneath in cellule 12 white or whitish to the end of the cell.-lichas Dbl. male The black colour of the apical area of the forewing extends to the apex of the cell and is either spotted at the inner margin or quite unicolorous - bebra Rothsch. male The black colour at the apex of the forewing does not nearly reach the cell and is deeply incised or spotted with the ground-colour, especially in cellules 4 and 5. Cameroons, Congo region, German East Africa. Similar to Charaxes paphianus but forewing apex not attenuated.

Biology

The habitat consists of forests and woodland savanna.

The larvae feed on Acacia pennata and Acacia brevispica.

Notes on the biology of pleione are given by Kielland (1990) Larsen (1991) and Larsen (2005).

Subspecies

• C. p. pleione — Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria
• C. p. bebra Rothschild, 1900 — north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, south-western Kenya, north-western Tanzania
• C. p. congoensis Plantrou, 1989 — south-eastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo
• C. p. delvauxi Turlin, 1987 — south-western Rwanda
• C. p. oriens Plantrou, 1989 — coast of Kenya, eastern Tanzania

Taxonomy

Charaxes pleione is a member of the species group Charaxes paphianus. The supposed clade members are:

• Charaxes paphianus - nominate
• Charaxes pleione

Realm

Afrotropical realm

References

• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IX. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 29 (8):415-487. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127336#page/511/mode/1up
• Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 31

References

1. Godart, J.B. in Latreille, P.A., & Godart, J.B. [1819], [1824]. ''[[Encyclopedie Methodique]]'' Histoire Naturelle [Zoologie] 9 Entomologie: i-iv, 1-328 [1819], 329-828 [1824]. Paris.
2. [http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/charaxinae/charaxes/ "''Charaxes'' Ochsenheimer, 1816"] at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
3. "Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini".
4. Aurivillius, [P.O.]C. 1908-1924. In: Seitz, A. ''Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde'' Band 13: Abt. 2, ''Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter'', 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 Tafeln (The Macrolepidoptera of the World 13).Alfred Kernen Verlag, Stuttgart.{{PD-notice
5. Kielland, J. 1990 ''Butterflies of Tanzania''. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.</refApollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
6. Larsen, T.B. 2005 ''Butterflies of West Africa''. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
7. Larsen, T.B. 1991 ''The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History''. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxii, 1-490.
8. Rothschild, 1900 in Rothschild, W., & Jordan, K. 1900. A monograph of ''Charaxes'' and the allied prionopterous genera. ''[[Novitates Zoologicae]]'' 7: [i-iv], 287-524.
9. Plantrou, J 1989. In: Henning, S.F 1989. ''The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa'' 43 (457 pp.). Johannesburg.
10. Turlin, B. 1987. Descriptions de nouvelles sous-especes et d’une forme de ''Charaxes'' africains (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae). ''Bulletin de la Société Scientifique Naturelle'' No. 53: 19-25.