Acraea atergatis

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Acraea atergatis
AcraeaSpecies2.jpg
Acraea atergatis and related species
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. atergatis
Binomial name
Acraea atergatis
Westwood, 1881 [1] [2]
Synonyms
  • Acraea (Acraea) atergatis
  • Acraea atergatis f. eichlerivan Son, 1963

Acraea atergatis is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Malawi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Haut-Lomani, Cataractes, Kinshasa), Angola, Zambia, north-western Zimbabwe, northern Botswana and Namibia. [3]

Contents

Description

A. atergatis Westw. (55 f) has two rather different seasonal forms. In both forms the wings above are bright uniform orange-yellow to the base, beneath in the dry-season form lighter and in the rainy-season form somewhat darker and more reddish than above; the black dots are arranged as in oncaea, but in the rainy-season form very large and thick; the forewing above is only narrowly black at the costal and distal margins, but without apical spot, and has strong black streaks in 3 to 6; the hindwing is a little blackened at the base of cellule 1 c and the cell; the seasonal forms differ particularly in the development of the marginal band of the hindwing; in the rainy-season form the black marginal band is on both surfaces about 1 mm. in breadth, above unspotted, beneath with narrow streak-like white marginal spots; in the dry-season form the marginal band is entirely absent or is only weakly indicated beneath, hence the marginal streaks of the under surface shade into the ground-colour without any dividing-line; the under surface of the hindwing has more or less distinct red spots. Angola; southern Congo region and Rhodesia. [4]

Biology

The habitat consists of open areas in deciduous woodland.

Adults are on wing year round. There are distinct seasonal forms.

Taxonomy

It is a member of the Acraea caecilia species group. See also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014. [5]

References

  1. Westwood, J.O, 1881 Entomology in, Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls in Oates, Matabeland : 331-365, pl. E-H
  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 Grosschmetterlinge der Erde Band 13: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Grosschmetterlinge, 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