Acraea encedon

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White-barred acraea
Common acraea (Acraea encedon encedon) 2.jpg
CMA Ilanda L 15 05 2010.JPG
Nominate subspecies in Madagascar and South Africa respectively
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. encedon
Binomial name
Acraea encedon
Synonyms
  • Papilio encedonLinnaeus, 1758
  • Hyalites encedon(Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Telchinia encedon(Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Papilio encedoniaLinnaeus, 1767
  • Papilio lyciaFabricius, 1775
  • Acraea sganziniBoisduval, 1833
  • Acraea lycia var. fulvaDoubleday, 1848
  • Acraea dairaGodman and Salvin, 1884
  • Acraea brauneiStaudinger, 1885
  • Acraea lycia ab. infuscataStaudinger, 1885
  • Acraea usagaraeVuillot, 1891
  • Acraea encedon lycia ab. ascrepticiaStrand, 1912
  • Acraea encedon ab. fumosaAurivillius, 1913
  • Acraea encedon f. commixtaPoulton, 1913
  • Acraea encedon f. alcippoidesLe Doux, 1923
  • Acraea encedon var. nigeriaeSchultze, 1923
  • Acraea encedon f. perradiataLe Cerf, 1927
  • Acraea encedon lycia f. carbonariaLe Cerf, 1927
  • Acraea encedon f. poultoniLe Doux, 1931
  • Acraea encedon f. infuscatoidesLe Doux, 1931
  • Acraea encedon f. umbratalcippinaLe Doux, 1931
  • Acraea encedon f. lycoidesLe Doux, 1931
  • Acraea lycia f. fulvoidesLe Doux, 1931
  • Acraea lycia encedonoidesLe Doux, 1931
  • Acraea lycia f. aurantiacaLe Doux, 1931

Acraea encedon, the common acraea, white-barred acraea or encedon acraea, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in sub-Saharan Africa and south-western Arabia. [3] It is one of the species of Acraea sometimes separated in Telchinia.

Contents

Description

The wingspan is 40–50 mm (1.6–2.0 in), with the female being slightly larger than the male, but otherwise similar in pattern and colour. The apex of the forewing is blackish and divided by a white bar. The rest of the surface of the wings are usually orange with black spots, however paler varieties with a greyish or yellowish base colour are also found.

The butterfly is a polymorphic Müllerian mimic of Danaus chrysippus , which is a highly unusual phenomenon as Müllerian mimicry is almost always monomorphic.

Description in Seitz

Male and female imagos in Adalbert Seitz (1925) AcraeaSpecies56, Acraea encedon, m & w.jpg
Male and female imagos in Adalbert Seitz (1925)

A. encedon is a very variable and widely distributed species and appears in many forms but with no definite local races. The black dots are the same in all the forms and are arranged as follows. Fore wing: 1 or 2 basal dots in 1b; a transverse spot in the cell; discal dots in 1b to 6, of which that in 1b is often double and always placed much nearer to the distal margin than the one in 2; in the forms with black apex discal dots 3 to 6 on the upper surface are indistinct against the dark ground-colour. Hindwing: basal dots in (1a), 1b, 1c and 7; 1 or 2 dots in the cell; one dot each in the basal angle of cellules 4 and 5 and discal dots in 1b to 7, of which the one in 3 or 4 is placed nearer to the distal margin than the rest and the one in 2 nearer to the base than that in 1b. The hindwing above has a narrow black or blackish marginal band 1 to 2 mm. in breadth, beneath the streaks on the interneural folds are often red-yellow instead of black. Throughout Africa south of the Sahara and Madagascar.

The following forms differ from the preceding in having the apical half of the forewing above not or scarcely darker than the basal half, with distinct black discal dots.

Larva slate-black with yellow lateral line, small white and yellow dorsal spots edged with black, and black spines; head black. Pupa white with the usual black markings. The larva lives on Commelina .

The agreement in colour and markings between the forms of Acraea encedon and those of the much larger Danaus chrysippus and D. dorippus is very remarkable. Compare A. encedon and D. chrysippus, A. alcippina and D. alcippus, A. daira and D. dorippus, A. radiata and D. dorippus ab. albinus. [4]

Distribution

There are two subspecies:

Life cycle

The eggs are oval in shape. The larvae feed on Commelina species, such as C. diffusa . The flight period of the adults is all year, but they are most common from March to May. They are slow fliers, and perch on low-growing vegetation.

In some populations there are two kinds of females, one producing offspring in a normal 1:1 sex ratio, the other producing females only. In other populations the sex ratio is apparently normal. Scientists first believed the distorted sex-ratio was caused by a driving W chromosome. Later research suggests it is caused by cytoplasmic bacteria.

Taxonomy

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

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References

  1. Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio Decima, Reformata. Tomus I. Holmiæ (Stockholm): impensis direct. Laurentii Salvii. 824 pp.
  2. "Acraea Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. "Metomorphosis" (PDF). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society of Africa. 21 (1). Lepidopterists' Society of Africa. March 2010. OCLC   864847323.
  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
  6. Henning, G. A., 1993 Phylogenetic notes on the African species of the subfamily Acraeinae. Part 2-3. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) Metamorphosis 4 (1): 5-18, (2): 53-68
  7. Pierre, J. & Bernaud, D., 2013 Nymphalidae XXIII. Acraea subgenus AcraeaButterflies of the World 39 : 1-8, pl. 1-28 Goecke & Evers
  8. Henning, G.A. & Williams, M.C. 2010 Taxonomic notes on the afrotropical taxa of the tribe Acraeini Boisduval, 1833 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae) Metamorphosis 21 (1) : 2-38