Acraea horta

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Garden acraea
Garden acraea (Acraea horta).jpg
Acraea horta02.jpg
Male imago (above) and the swarthy caterpillars on a Kiggelaria leaf
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. horta
Binomial name
Acraea horta
(Linnaeus, 1764) [2]
Synonyms
  • Papilio hortaLinnaeus, 1764
  • Acraea horta ab. conjunctaBlachier, 1912

Acraea horta or the garden acraea is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Contents

Description

Acraea horta male, female and female's wing undersides in Seitz Fauna Africana Taf. 53 SeitzFaunaAfricanaXIIITaf53, Acraea horta, ,  &  u.jpg
Acraea horta male, female and female's wing undersides in Seitz Fauna Africana Taf. 53

A. horta L. (53 e, f) is one of the longest known and commonest Acraeids of the Cape. The male is similar to that of neobule , but differs in having the black dots of the fore wing absent or only represented by a dot in the cell and another in lb, the marginal spots of the hind wing small, elongate and incompletely separated from the ground-colour and the hindwing beneath red at the inner margin and the marginal band. In the female the forewing is almost entirely hyaline and the hindwing above light yellow to grey-yellow, beneath whitish with larger marginal spots, bounded by distinct lunules. Larva brown-yellow with black transverse lines and yellow 7 lateral and dorsal lines; head and spines black; lives on Kiggelaria africana and various Passiflora . Cape, Natal, Zululand, Transvaal and Pondoland. - female ab. conjuncta Blachier is distinguished by having the discal dots of the hindwing changed into long, broad black stripes. [3] It has a typical wingspan of 45–50 mm for males and 49–53 mm for females.

Biology

Adults are on wing year-round, but are more common from October to April. [4]

The larvae feed on Kiggelaria africana and Passiflora (including Passiflora coerulea , Passiflora manicata and Passiflora mollisima ) and Tacsonia species.

Taxonomy

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

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References

  1. Woodhall, S.E. (2020). "Acraea horta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T161322853A161322965. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T161322853A161322965.en . Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. Linnaeus, C. 1764. Museum Ludovicae Ulricae Reginae [viii], 1-720 + [2] pp. Holmiae.
  3. 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.svgThis article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  4. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN   978-1-86872-724-7.
  5. Pierre & Bernau, 2014 Classification et Liste Synonymique des Taxons du Genre Acraea pdf