Charaxes kahldeni

Charaxes kahldeni
From Boukoko, CAR
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Charaxes
Species:	C. kahldeni
Binomial name
Charaxes kahldeni Homeyer & Dewitz, 1882 [1] [2]
Synonyms
Charaxes homeyeriHomeyer and Dewitz, 1882 Charaxes w-brunneaBethune-Baker, 1908 Charaxes homeyeri f. bellusStrand, 1914 Charaxes kahldeni apicalisRöber, 1925

Charaxes kahldeni is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in northern Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Uganda and southern Sudan. ^[3] Its habitat is forests.

Description

Very similar to Charaxes zoolina. Hindwing underside in cell 1c with a black longitudinal stripe, which extends almost to the anal angle and joins with the similar median strip.

Description in Seitz

Ch. kahldeni. Hindwing beneath in cellule lc with a black longitudinal stripe, extending from the base nearly to the anal angle and posteriorly joined to the median stripe, which is also black- kahldeni Homeyer and Dew. (= W-brunnea Baker). Both wings greenish white; distal and costal margins of the hind wing narrowly black; from the costal margin arises a black submarginal line, which beneath reaches to vein 1, but above at furthest to vein 2. Hindwing above only with a fine marginal line and three submarginal spots (in cellules lc-3) black, beneath, in addition to the two stripes already mentioned, with a thick black sub marginal line and a fine marginal line. Cameroons to Angola. In f. homeyeri Dewthe basal half of the forewing above is whitish, the apical part yellow-brown with rust-brown marginal band spotted with yellow; hindwing above whitish with a rust-brown marginal band about 3 mm. in breadth. Under surface brownish, sprinkled with darker dots, as in the type-form with longitudinal stripe in 1 c and a median band, but with dark dots instead of the submarginal stripes. Cameroons to Angola; rare. ^[4]

Taxonomy

Charaxes kahldeni is a member of the species group Charaxes zoolina . The clade members are:

• Charaxes zoolina nominate
• Charaxes kahldeni

The group differs from all the others in Charaxes in the male having a tail on vein 2, but the female having two long tails on veins 2 and 4. There are two different forms, one with black markings on a greenish-white base colour (wet-season form) and one with reddish-brown markings on red-yellow whitish colour (dry-season form). These forms can be from eggs of the same female.

References

1. Homeyer, A.V., & Dewitz, H. 1882. Drei neue westafrikanishe Charaxes. Berliner Entomologiche Zeitschrift 26: 381-383.
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 2012-05-25.
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 .

• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1974 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part IX. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Entomology) 29 (8):415-487.

External links

• Pteron Images
• Charaxes khaldeni images at Consortium for the Barcode of Life
• Images of C. kahldeni Royal Museum for Central Africa (Albertine Rift Project)