| Small orange acraea | |
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| A. e. manjaca in South Africa | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Acraea |
| Species: | A. eponina |
| Binomial name | |
| Acraea eponina (Cramer, 1780) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Acraea eponina, the orange acraea or small orange acraea to distinguish it from the larger A. anacreon , is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in tropical Africa and south-western Arabia.
Contents
The wingspan is 35–40 mm for males and 36–44 mm for females. Adults are on wing year round, but are more common in warmer months. [1]
Natural enemies include the parasitoids Carcelia normula and Charops species and the predaceous bugs Afrius figuratus , Rhynocoris bicolor and other Rhynocoris species.
The larvae of subspecies eponina feed on Hibiscus , Sida , Nicotiana , Hermannia , and Triumfetta species. Subspecies manjaca has been reported on Triumfetta rhomboidea , Triumfetta annua , Triumfetta effusa , Triumfetta pilosa and Hermannia species.
The Acraea E. larvae is known to be a major pest to the plant Jute Mallow and can cause a loss of 25-100% of the quality of the crop harvest. [2]
