Charaxes hildebrandti

Description

Ch. hildebrandti Dew. male : wings above black with a common, straight, white, bluish-bordered transverse band, extending from vein 2 on the hindwing to vein 7 or 8 on the forewing, but in cellules 5—8 of the forewing broken up into small, rounded spots; tails of the hindwing short and obtuse. The white transverse band occurs beneath also and is here basally bounded on the hindwing by the fine, continuous and nearly straight black discal line, but on the forewing in cellules lb—3 proximally often angled at the veins so as to form a series of steps. Hindwing beneath with yellowish marginal line. The female is somewhat larger than the male and has the white transverse band broader and scarcely margined with blue, reaching the inner margin of the hindwing; otherwise it agrees with the male. Gold Coast to Angola.

Biology

Its habitat consists of lowland evergreen forests.

The larvae feed on Dyboscia species.

Subspecies

• Charaxes hildebrandti hildebrandti (Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, Central African Republic, northern and central Democratic Republic of the Congo, western Uganda)
• Charaxes hildebrandti gillesi Plantrou, 1973 (Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, western Nigeria)
• Charaxes hildebrandti katangensis Talbot, 1928 (eastern and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo, north-western Zambia, Uganda: west to the Bwamba Valley)

Taxonomy

Charaxes hildebrandti is a member of the large species group Charaxes etheocles.

Realm

Afrotropical realm

Etymology

The name honours Johann Maria Hildebrandt.

References

• Victor Gurney Logan Van Someren, 1972 Revisional notes on African Charaxes (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Part VIII. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) (Entomology)215-264.https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127337#page/273/mode/1up

References

1. Dewitz, H. 1879. Afrikanische Tagschmetterlinge. ''Nova Acta Academiae Caesarea Leopoldina Carolinae Germanicum Naturae Curiousorum'' 41 (2): 173-212.
2. [http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/charaxinae/charaxes/ "''Charaxes'' Ochsenheimer, 1816"] at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
3. "Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini".
4. Larsen, T.B. 2005 ''Butterflies of West Africa''. Apollo Books, Svendborg, Denmark: 1-595
5. 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-notice
6. Plantrou, J. 1973. Note sur les ''Charaxes'' de l’Afrique occidentale, 1 (Lep. Nymphalidae).''Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France'' 78 (7-8): 268-276.
7. Talbot, G. 1928 New forms of African Nymphalidae (Lep. Rhop.) in the [[Royal Museum for Central Africa. Musee du Congo, Tervueren]]. ''Bulletin of the [[James John Joicey. Hill Museum, Witley]]'' 2: 229-231