Charaxes nichetes

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Amphiesmenoptera
Ordo: Lepidoptera
Subordo: Glossata
Cladus: Coelolepida
Cladus: Myoglossata
Cladus: Neolepidoptera
Infraordo: Heteroneura
Cladus: Eulepidoptera
Cladus: Ditrysia
Cladus: Apoditrysia
Cladus: Obtectomera
Superfamilia: Papilionoidea

Familia: Nymphalidae
Subfamilia: Charaxinae
Tribus: Charaxini
Genus: Charaxes
Species: Charaxes nichetes
Subspecies: (6):
C. n. bouchei – C. n. leoninus – C. n. leopardinus – C. n. nichetes – C. n. pantherinus – C. n. ssese

Charaxes nichetes leoninus

Name

Charaxes nichetes Grose-Smith, 1883
Synonyms

Charaxes hamatus Dewitz, 1884
Charaxes ogovensis Holland, 1886

References

Turlin, B. & Lequeux, J.P., 2002: Notes sur les Charaxinae d'Uganda et description de deux nouvelles sous-espèces (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae). Lambillionea 102(1): 69-76. Reference page.
Williams, M.C., 2008: Checklist of Afrotropical Papilionoidea and Hesperoidea; Compiled by Mark C. Williams, 7th ed.

Charaxes nichetes, the Manx charaxes or water charaxes, is a butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola.[3]

Description

nichetes Group. male Distal margin of the fore wing emarginate, before the anal angle at the end of vein 2 strongly convex. Hindwing in the d produced to a point at the anal angle; distal margin curved and feebly dentate but without tail; in the female rounded at the anal angle and with a very short tail at vein 4. Ground-colour above orange-red with violet reflection. Ch. nichetes Smith wings above with a nearly straight black median band, extending from the costal margin of the forewing to the middle of vein 2 on the hindwing and about 4 mm. in breadth. Forewing with black discal spots in cellules 2–6, which are more or less completely united with the proximal side of the transverse band; hindwing inside the band broadly blackish. Forewing with dark marginal spots united into a band and hindwing with thick submarginal annulated spots. In the female the basal half of both wings above is almost as dark as the transverse band, which is consequently only bordered distally by the reddish yellow ground-colour; submarginal spots of the hindwing united into a light-spotted band 4mm. in breadth. Cameroons to Angola. - leoninus Btlr. differs from the type-form only in having the black markings much less developed. In the female they are even more reduced, the ground-colour much lighter orange-yellow and the distal margin of the hindwing uniformly rounded, without tails. Nyassaland.[4] This species is easily identified by the absence of tails.
Biology
Habitat in Gabon

The habitat consists of forests, low altitude woodland savanna and Brachystegia woodland.Often near rivers and streams.

The larvae feed on Uapaca nitida, Uapaca kirkiana and Uapaca sansibarica.

Notes on the biology of nichetes are given by Pringle et al. (1994) and Kielland (1990). [5][6]
Subspecies

C. n. nichetes (southern Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, northern Angola, northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda: western and northern shores of Lake Victoria)
C. n. bouchei Plantrou, 1974[7] (Sierra Leone, Liberia, southern Ivory Coast, Ghana, western Nigeria)
C. n. leoninus Butler, 1895[8] (Democratic Republic of the Congo: Shaba, southern Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, eastern Zimbabwe)
C. n. leopardinus Plantrou, 1974 (Guinea, north-eastern Ivory Coast, Benin, Nigeria, northern Cameroon,Chad)
C. n. pantherinus Rousseau-Decelle, 1934[9] (Democratic Republic of the Congo, north-eastern Zambia, north-western Tanzania)
C. n. ssese Turlin & Lequeux, 2002 .[10] (Uganda)

Taxonomy

Charaxes nichetes is the sole member of species group Charaxes nichetes.
References

Grose-Smith, H. 1883 Descriptions of three new species of Charaxes. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 20: 57-58.
"Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
Afrotropical Butterflies: File H - Charaxinae - Tribe Charaxini
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.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Pringle et al , 1994. Pennington’s Butterflies of Southern Africa, 2nd edition
Kielland, J. 1990 Butterflies of Tanzania. Hill House, Melbourne and London: 1-363.
Plantrou, J. 1974. Note sur les Charaxes de l’Afrique occidentale, 2 (Lep. Nymphalidae).Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 79 (5-6): 125-131.
Butler, A. G 1895 On collections of Lepidoptera from British Central Africa and Lake Tanganyika Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. 1895 (2) : 250-270, pl. 15-16 Full text
Rousseau-Decelle, G. 1934. De quelques formes nouvelles de Charaxes africains. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 39: 228-236.

Turlin, B. and Lequeux, J.P. 2002. Notes sur les Charaxinae d’Uganda et description de deux nouvelles sous-especes (Lepidoptera Nymphalidae). Lambillionea 102 (1) (Tome I): 69-76.

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. [1]
Seitz, A. Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 13: Die Afrikanischen Tagfalter. Plate XIII 32