Acraea sotikensis

Sotik acraea
A. sotikensis in Seitz (1925)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Acraea
Species:	A. sotikensis
Binomial name
Acraea sotikensis Sharpe, 1892 [1] [2]
Synonyms
Acraea (Actinote) sotikensis Acraea supponina Staudinger, 1896 Acraea supponina ninapo Suffert, 1904 Acraea sotikensis f. katana Eltringham, 1912 Acraea sotikensis rowena Eltringham, 1912 Acraea rupicola Schultze, 1912 Acraea sotikensis var. hansmeyeri Strand, 1913 Acraea sotikensis var. rowenina Gaede, 1915 Acraea karscheni var. cruentata Gaede, 1916 Acraea sotikensis f. bayeri Schouteden, 1919 Acraea karschi ab. vulcanica Schultze, 1923 Acraea sotikensis katerensis Stoneham, 1943 Acraea sotikensis f. exclamationis Stoneham, 1943 Acraea sotikensis f. albisubapex Stoneham, 1943 Acraea sotikensis f. rowena ab. mariae Dufrane, 1945 Acraea sotikensis f. rowena ab. alberici Dufrane, 1945

Acraea sotikensis, the Sotik acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae which is native to the African tropics and subtropics.

Range

It is found in Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi and Zambia. ^[3]

Description

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

A. sotikensis E. Sharpe (56 a). The red stripe on the median of the forewing above is usually entirely separated from the hindmarginal spot, occasionally joined to it, but always marked off by a distinct constriction. In the type-form the subapical band of the fore wing is light yellow, but the other light markings of the upper surface are yellow-red; the hindwing beneath has distinct red streaks in the basal part and a variegated marginal band, ornamented with light lines at the veins and reddish streaks at the proximal end of the marginal spots. Congo, Angola and Rhodesia to Uganda, Abyssinia and British East Africa.

• rowena Eltr. (56 b. as praeponina) only differs in having the median band of the hindwing above light yellow in cellules 1a to 3 and the under surface of the hindwing lighter. Ruwenzori.
• In katana Eltr. all the markings of the upper surface, even the subapical band of the forewing, are red. Southern Congo.
• supponina Stgr. (56 b ?) closely approximates to katana above, but occasionally has the subapical band of the forewing light yellow (= ab. ninapo Suff.), and differs beneath from all the sotikensis forms in having discal dots 4 to 7 on the underside of the hindwing strongly developed and placed in a straight line vertically to the costal margin; the red streaks in the basal part are strongly developed and form almost a continuous transverse band. Congo.
• praeponina Stgr [now Acraea bonasia ] like katana, has the markings of the upper surface red, but differs in the unicolorous black marginal band of the hindwing beneath, which is not striped but only ornamented with marginal spots. Kudu and Congo.

A. rupicola A. Schultze [junior synonym] is a species quite recently described and apparently very variable, and is said to differ from the allied species in having the light markings of the upper surface much reduced and not very sharply defined. "On the forewing the subapical band, which in all the 7 specimens before me is pale yellow, in one female indistinctly dusted with brown-red, runs as in karschi , but is narrower; the hindmarginal spot (in 1a to 2) is narrowest in 1a, distally strongly incised at the veins; in 2 males and 2 females it is dull ochre-yellow, in one female densely dusted with yellow-red, in another with black, in 3 examples yellow-red; the longitudinal streak at the hindmargin of the cell is indistinct in the specimens with predominantly yellow markings, distinct in those with the red ones and in one female even encroaches into 1a, so that this specimen somewhat approaches Acraea bonasia . On the hindwing the very narrow median band recedes far from the distal margin in cellule 3, where only a very small light spot still persists, but projects distad in 4 and 5 in the shape of a double tooth; the median band is in 2 pairs dull ochre-yellow, in 1 male and 1 female in cellule 2 distally, in 4 to 6 for its entire breadth dusted with yellow-red, in the other specimens yellow-red. Light marginal spots are only indicated in one female by sparse yellow scaling. On the under surface rupicola likewise nearly approaches karschi. Expanse 37 to 42 (male) to 44 to 46 (female) mm. Primeval forests of the South Cameroons, where the species seems chiefly to frequent the cool granite rocks which occur here and there; was taken flying round a yellow-flowered Composite". – I was not able to introduce this species in the synopsis. ^[4]

Biology

The habitat consists of forests.

The larvae feed on Triumfetta species.

Taxonomy

Acraea sotikensis is a member of the Acraea bonasia species group; see Acraea . See also Pierre & Bernaud, 2014 ^[5]

See also

• Sotik Constituency

References

1. Sharpe, E.M.B 1892 Descriptions of New Butterflies collected by Mr. F. J. Jackson, F.Z.S:, in British East Africa, during his recent Expedition. - Part I & II Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1891 : 187–194, pl. 16-17 633–638, pl. 48. (1891, 1892)
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 2012-06-05.
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. 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

• Images representing Acraea sotikensis at Bold.
• Images representing Acraea sotikensis karschi at Bold.
• Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 56 a also (b) as supponina.
• Acraea sotikensis Archived 2020-01-27 at the Wayback Machine at Pteron