Acraea alciope

Last updated

Hewitson's acraea
Hewitson's acraea (Acraea alciope) male.jpg
Hewitson's acraea (Acraea alciope) female.jpg
Male and female imagos
both in Ghana
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. alciope
Binomial name
Acraea alciope
Hewitson, 1852 [1] [2]
Synonyms
  • Acraea (Actinote) alciope
  • Planema macarinaButler, 1868
  • Acraea cydoniaWard, 1873
  • Acraea alciope f. cretaceaEltringham, 1912
  • Acraea alciope f. fumidaEltringham, 1912
  • Acraea alciope f. edeaStrand, 1914
  • Acraea alciope f. lomanaStrand, 1914
  • Acraea alciope alciope ab. albericiDufrane, 1945
  • Acraea alciope alciope f. vulpinopsisBirket-Smith, 1960

Acraea alciope, the Hewitson's acraea or alciope acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae which is native to the African tropics and subtropics.

Contents

Range

It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Bioko, the Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, south-western Uganda and Zambia. [3]

Description

Acraea alciope Hew. (57 e). The female has developed several forms, but the male varies little. In the male the hindwing and the transverse band of the fore wing are light ochre-yellow and the dark marginal band on the upperside of the hindwing about 4 mm. in breadth. In the female the transverse band of the forewing is brown-yellow and distally incised; the hindwing is brown-yellow and has a broad dark marginal band as in the male. Ivory Coast to the Congo and Uganda.

Biology

The habitat consists of forests.

The larvae feed on Theobroma cacao , Fleurya and Musanga species.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the Acraea jodutta species group – but see also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 [5]

References

  1. Hewitson, W.C. 1851-1856. Illustrations of new species of exotic butterflies 1: v, [1-124]. London.
  2. "Acraea Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. "Afrotropical Butterflies: Nymphalidae - Tribe Acraeini". Archived from the original on 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  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-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  5. Pierre & Bernau, 2014 Classification et Liste Synonymique des Taxons du Genre Acraea pdf Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine