Charaxes eudoxus

Charaxes eudoxus
C. e. mechowi as C. e. eudoxus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Charaxes
Species:	C. eudoxus
Binomial name
Charaxes eudoxus (Drury, 1782) [1] [2]
Synonyms
Papilio castor var. eudoxusDrury, 1782 Charaxes eudoxus eudoxus f. druceanoidesNicat, 2002 Charaxes eudoxus amaurus f. nzoiavan Someren, 1970 Charaxes blachieriOberthür, 1912 Charaxes eudoxus theresaeLe Cerf, 1932

Charaxes eudoxus, the Eudoxus charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon and Zambia. ^[3]

Description

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

Ch. eudoxus differs from the Charaxes druceanus in having the median band on the upperside of the forewing completely bordered on both sides by the deep black-brown ground-colour and towards the costal margin much narrowed but almost straight. The basal third of both wings above is dark red-brown; the red-yellow marginal spots are large and on the hindwing united into a marginal band. On the under surface of the hindwing the silver-white median band is narrow with yellowish spots along the middle and in the basal area the black centres of the silvery streaks and spots are entirely or almost entirely absent. A very rare species. — eudoxus Drury has the median band on the upperside of the forewing rather broad and in cellules 4—7 also composed of rounded spots; on the under surface this band is lighter than the ground-colour and distinctly defined. Pupa unicolorous green, with yellowish spiracles and orange-yellow cremaster. Sierra Leone to Cameroons.— In mechowi Rothsch. the median band of the upper surface is placed very near to the distal margin and in cellules 2—6 is very narrowly linear; on the under surface, except at the hindmargin in cellules 1 a and 1 b, it is red-brown and not lighter than the ground-colour. Angola and the southern Congo region. ^[4]

Habitat.Ivory Coast

Biology

The habitat consists of forests, including gallery and riverine forests. The larvae feed on Astropanax , Syzygium (including S. cordatum and S. guineense ) and Garcinia species. Notes on the biology of eudoxus are given by Kielland, J. (1990) and Larsen, T.B. (1991) ^{[5] [6]}

Subspecies

C. e. mechowi figure 4

• C. e. eudoxus (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, western Nigeria)
• C. e. amaurusPoulton, 1929 ^[7] (western Kenya)
• C. e. biokoensisCanu, 1989 ^[8] (Bioko)
• C. e. boersmanaPlantrou, 1980 ^[9] (Nigeria: north to central)
• C. e. cabacusJordan, 1925 ^[10] (Uganda: north-west shores of Lake Victoria)
• C. e. goubandanaNicat, 2002 ^[11] (Guinea)
• C. e. imatongensisPlantrou, 1982 ^[12] (Sudan: south to Imatong Mountains)
• C. e. kateraeCarpenter, 1937 ^[13] (Uganda: south to the western shores of Lake Victoria, north-western Tanzania)
• C. e. lequeuxiPlantrou, 1982 (Rwanda, Burundi)
• C. e. mechowiRothschild, 1900 ^[14] (eastern Nigeria, south-western Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, north-western Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic)
• C. e. mitchelliPlantrou & Howarth, 1977 ^[15] (Zambia)
• C. e. raffaellaePlantrou, 1982 (north-western Tanzania, possibly Burundi)
• C. e. zambiaevan Someren, 1970 ^[16] (Zambia: eastern side of the upper Luangwa Valley)

Related species

Historical attempts to assemble a cluster of presumably related species into a "Charaxes jasius Group" have not been wholly convincing. More recent taxonomic revision, ^[17] corroborated by phylogenetic research, allow a more rational grouping congruent with cladistic relationships. Within a well-populated clade of 27 related species sharing a common ancestor approximately 16 mya during the Miocene, ^[18] 26 are now considered together as The jasius Group. ^[17] One of the two lineages within this clade forms a robust monophyletic group of seven species sharing a common ancestor approximately 2-3 mya, i.e. during the Pliocene, ^[18] and are considered as the jasius subgroup. ^[17] The second lineage leads to 19 other species within the Jasius group, which are split into three well-populated subgroups of closely related species.

The jasius Group (26 Species): ^[17]

Clade 1: jasius subgroup (7 species)

Clade 2: contains the well-populated three additional subgroups (19 species) of the jasius Group: called the brutus, pollux, and eudoxus subgroups. ^[17]

• the eudoxus subgroup (11 species):
• Charaxes eudoxus
• Charaxes lucyae
• Charaxes richelmanni
• Charaxes musakensis
• Charaxes biokensis [stat.rev.2005] ^[17]
• Charaxes ducarmei
• Charaxes druceanus
• Charaxes tectonis
• Charaxes phraortes
• Charaxes andranodorus
• Charaxes andrefana [stat.rev.2025] ^[17]

Further exploration of the phylogenetic relationships amongst existing Charaxes taxa is required to improve clarity.

References

1. Drury, D. 1782. Illustrations of Natural History 3: xxvi, 1-769 + 2pp. London
2. "Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
3. "Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
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. Kielland, J. 1990 Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.
6. Larsen, T.B. 1991 The Butterflies of Kenya and their Natural History. Oxford University Press, Oxford: i-xxii, 1-490.
7. Poulton, E. B. 1929 in Eltringham, H., Poulton, E.B., Riley, N.D., & Talbot, G. 1929. African Rhopalocera: descriptions and notes. Transactions of the Entomologial Society of London 77: 475-504.
8. Canu, J.G 1989. In: Henning, 1989. The Charaxinae butterflies of Africa 136 (457 pp.). Johannesburg.
9. Plantrou, J. 1980. Description d’une sous-espece de Charaxes eudoxus Drury nouvellement decouverte au Nigeria (Lep. Nymphalidae). Sciences Naturelles (26): 11-13.
10. Jordan, K. 1925. On some subspecies of African Charaxes. Novitates Zoologicae 32: 288-289.
11. Nicat, J. 2002 Nouvelles forme et sous-espece de Charaxes eudoxus Drury 1782. Lambillionea 102 (2): 155-158.
12. Plantrou, J. 1982. Description de 9 sous-especes du genre Charaxes recemment decouvertes en Afrique (Lep. Nymphalidae). Miscellanea Entomologica 49: 101-115.
13. Carpenter, G.D.H. 1937. Charaxes eudoxus Drury (Lep.) A revision, with description of a new subspecies. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 86: 85-98.36
14. 1900 Rothschild, W. 1900 in Rothschild, W., & Jordan, K. 1900. A monograph of Charaxes and the allied prionopterous genera. Novitates Zoologicae 7: [i-iv], 287-524.
15. Plantrou, J., & Howarth, T.G. 1977. Notes on Charaxes eudoxus Drury (Lepidoptera:Nymphalidae) and a description of a new subspecies. Proceedings and Transactions of the British Entomological and Natural History Society 10 (1-2): 22-26
16. Van Someren 1970. Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology) 25:197-250
17. Turlin, B. (2005). Bauer & Frankenbach (ed.). Butterflies of the World: Charaxes 1. Vol. 22. Keltern: Goecke & Evers. pp. 2–3. ISBN   3937783156.
18. "Out of Africa again: A phylogenetic hypothesis of the genus Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) based on five gene regions" Archived 2019-07-25 at the Wayback Machine . Aduse-Poku, Vingerhoedt, Wahlberg. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2009) 53;463–478

• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1970 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VI. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)197-250.

External links

• Charaxes eudoxus lequeuxi images at BOLD
• Charaxes lequeuxi images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• Charaxes eudoxus raffaellae images at BOLD
• More subspecies images at BOLD Charaxes eudoxus eudoxus, Charaxes eudoxus goubandana, Charaxes eudoxus katerae, Charaxes eudoxus mechowi, Charaxes eudoxus musakensis, Charaxes eudoxus zambiae
• Images of C. eudoxus lequeuxi Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)
• Images of C. eudoxus mechowi (Albertine Rift Project)