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.[1]

Blue-spotted emperor
Figure 2 male, 3 female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Charaxes
Species:
C. cithaeron
Binomial name
Charaxes cithaeron
C. & R. Felder, 1859
Synonyms
  • Charaxes cithaeron cithaeron ab. whitei van Someren, 1975

The wingspan is 70–80 mm in males and 85–95 mm in females. Flight period is year-round.[2]

Larvae feed on Trema orientalis, Albizia adianthifolia, Celtis africana, Cola natalensis, Chaerachme aristata, Bafia racemosa, Afzelia quanzensis, Milletia sutherlandi, Maytenus senegalensis, and Craibia brevecaudatus.[1][2]

Charaxes cithaeron figured in Adalbert Seitz's Fauna Africana

Full description

A full description is given by Walter Rothschild and Karl Jordan (1900). Novitates Zoologicae Volume 7:287-524. page 379-382 (for terms see Novitates Zoologicae Volume 5:545-601 )

Habitat

Forested areas from the coastal belt to the Kenya Highlands.

Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.[1]

  • C. c. cithaeron C. & R. Felder, 1859 (Tanzania, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe, South Africa, Swaziland)
  • C. c. joanae van Someren, 1964 (Zambia, northern Zimbabwe and possibly the Tukuyu District of Tanzania)
  • C. c. kennethi Poulton, 1926 (coast of Kenya, eastern Tanzania)
  • C. c. nairobicus van Son, 1953 (Kenya: central highlands east of the Rift Valley)
  • C. c. nyasae van Someren, 1964 (Malawi)
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References
  1. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
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