Neptis serena

Neptis serena
female N. s. serena, The Gambia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Neptis
Species:	N. serena
Binomial name
Neptis serena Overlaet, 1955 [1]
Synonyms
Neptis agatha ab. lativittataStrand, 1909 Neptis agatha ab. latvittaStrand; d'Abrera, 1980

Neptis serena, the serene sailer or river sailer, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, northern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Yemen. ^[2] The habitat consists of open, grassy banks of streams and rivers in forests, heavy woodland, coastal bush and savanna.

Adult males mud-puddle. Adults are on wing from April to January.

The larvae feed on Cycina species.

Subspecies

• Neptis serena serena (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia, northern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa: KwaZulu-Natal)
• Neptis serena annahLarsen, 1982 (Yemen)

Taxonomy

It is a member of the Neptis agatha species group

References

1. Neptis Archived 2012-04-17 at the Wayback Machine at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
2. "Afrotropical Butterflies: Nymphalidae - Tribe Limenitidini". Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2012-06-18.