Acraea wigginsi

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Wiggins' acraea
SeitzFaunaAfricanaXIIITaf60, Acraea wigginsi.jpg
Imago illustrated in Seitz (1900)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Acraea
Species:
A. wigginsi
Binomial name
Acraea wigginsi
Neave, 1904 [1] [2]
Synonyms
  • Acraea (Actinote) wigginsi
  • Acraea wigginsi r. occidentalisBethune-Baker, 1926

Acraea wigginsi, the Wiggins' acraea, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae which is native to tropical Africa.

Contents

Range

It is found in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya. [3]

Description

A. wigginsi Neave. Forewing above blackish at the costal margin, in the apical part and at the distal margin, with a broad white subapical band in cellules 3 to 6, 9 and 10 and often also with yellow marginal spots; the cell and cellules 1a to 2 red-yellow as far as the marginal band; a black dot in the cell and a transverse spot at its apex and also discal dots in 1b to 5 or at least in 1b to 3; hindwing above golden yellow with narrow, yellow-spotted marginal band; forewing beneath as above, but lighter and at the distal margin grey with black veins; hindwing beneath light yellow with narrow white-spotted marginal band, which is proximally accompanied by gold-yellow quadrate spots, and between the discal and basal dots with an irregularly broken red transverse band, in addition with a red spot at the base of cellules 1c and 8. The female only differs in having the red-yellow colour on the forewing above less extended. Expanse 46 to 56 mm. British East Africa and Uganda. [4]

Subspecies

Biology

The habitat consists of grassy edges of sub-montane forests at altitudes above 1,500 meters.

The larvae feed on Cassia zambesiacus and Kotschya strigosa .

Taxonomy

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

References

  1. Neave, S.A. 1904. On a large collection of rhopalocera from the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. Novitates Zoologicae 11: 323-363.
  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.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 Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine