Amauris niavius

Amauris niavius
Male, dorsal side
Ventral side, Bobiri Forest, Ghana
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Amauris
Species:	A. niavius
Binomial name
Amauris niavius (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms
Papilio niaviusLinnaeus, 1758 Amauris obliterataDufrane, 1948 Amauris partitaTalbot, 1941 Amauris dominicanusTrimen, 1879

Amauris niavius - museum specimen

Amauris niavius, the friar, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the forests of tropical Africa.

The wingspan is 80–85 mm for males and 78–82 mm for females. Adults are on wing year-round (with peaks in late summer and autumn). ^[1]

The larvae feed on Cynanchum (including C. medium , C. nigrum and C. vincetoxicum ), Gymnema (including G. sylvestre ), Marsdenia , Secamone , Vincetoxicum (syn. Tylophora) and Ipomoea . Larvae of subspecies dominicanus feed on Gymnema sylvestre . ^[2]

Subspecies

• Amauris niavius niavius (from western Kenya to Zaire, Angola, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Fernando Pó (Macías Nguema Island))
• Amauris niavius dominicanusTrimen, 1879 (Natal, Mozambique, from Rhodesia to Malawi, eastern Tanzania and Kenya east of the Rift Valley)
• Amauris niavius aethiopsRothschild & Jordan, 1903 (Ethiopia, northern Uganda, southern Sudan)

References

1. Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN   978-1-86872-724-7.
2. "Amauris Hübner, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms

• Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 23 c dominicanus, d (missppeling)