Acraea insignis

Black-blotched acraea
male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Acraea
Species:	A. insignis
Binomial name
Acraea insignis Distant, 1880 [1] [2]
Synonyms
Acraea (Acraea) insignis Acraea buxtoniHewitson, 1877 Acraea balbinaOberthür, 1888 Acraea insignis siginnaSuffert, 1904

Acraea insignis, the black-blotched acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. ^[3]

Description

Seitz Fauna Africana Taf 53

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

A. insignis Dist. (53 e). Forewing above scaled with red-yellow to the apex of the cell and the hinder angle, in the apical part transparent black-grey, at the end of the cell with a black transverse streak, otherwise without markings. Hindwing red-yellow with narrow black, unspotted marginal band about 1 mm. in breadth, which beneath is often grey at the distal margin, at the base with large confluent black spots and with large discal dots in 1 b to 2, of which the one in 2 covers the base of the cellule, and with a thick black transverse streak at the end of the cell; the discal dots in cellules 3-7 are entirely absent; beneath as above, but much lighter reddish white with a red band at the proximal side of the black marginal band. In the female the ground-colour is often grey-yellowish. Nyassaland; German and British East Africa; Uganda, f. siginna Suff. (54 a) is characterized by having the black spots in the basal part of the hindwing united into a large, deep black patch, which also covers the base of celhdes 3 to 6. German and British East Africa, especially in the high-lying localities. ^[4]

Subspecies

• Acraea insignis insignis — Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi
• Acraea insignis gorongozaevan Son, 1963 — western Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe

Biology

The habitat consists of forests.

Both sexes are attracted to flowers. Adults are probably on wing year round.

The larvae feed on Vitis , Gossypium , Adenia and Kiggelaria species. Young larvae are dark brownish moulting to orange brown at the third instar. The pupa is golden to orange lined with black.

Taxonomy

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

References

1. Distant, W.L. 1880. On some African species of lepidoptera belonging to the subfamily Nymphalinae. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1879: 703-709.
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 2012-05-31.
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.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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Acraea insignis .

Wikispecies has information related to Acraea insignis .

• Images representing Acraea insignis at Bold