Charaxes zoolina

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 zoolina
Subspecies: C. z. betsimisaraka – C. z. ehmckei – C. z. mafugensis – C. z. zoolina
Name

Charaxes zoolina (Westwood, [1850])
Synonymy

Nymphalis zoolina Westwood, [1850] (original combination)
Charaxes zoolina (Westwood, 1850):

References

Charaxes zoolina, the club-tailed emperor or club-tailed charaxes, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in southern Africa.[3]

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

The wingspan is 40–45 mm in males and 50–58 mm in females. The species of this group [zoolina group] differ from all others in the hindwing having in the male only one long tail, at vein 2, but in the female two, at veins 2 and 4. Ch. zoolina occurs in three local races, each with a greenish and a brown or brown-yellow form. The greenish white forms differ from kahldeni in the broad dark marginal band on the upperside of the wing and the yellow-brown forms from homeyeri [= kahldeni in the absence of the longitudinal stripe in cellule 1 c on the hindwing beneath.- zoolina Westw. wings with the ground-colour greenish white; forewing above with the costal margin, a transverse spot at the end of the cell and the apical area black, the latter more or less spotted with white; hindwing with a black marginal band, 4-5mm. in breadth, with small white dots. Wings beneath almost as above, but with larger white spots in the marginal bands, common black median band and black longitudinal stripe in cellule 1 c of the hindwing; distal margin of the hindwing scarcely appreciably angled at vein 4. The female is larger and has the light spots in the marginal bands much larger and joined together; hindwing above with yellowish marginal streaks. Natal to Uganda and Abyssinia, f. neanthes Hew. The ground-colour is lighter or darker ochre-yellow and the black markings of the type-form are replaced by ferruginous or dark brown; occasionally they are black, ab. obscuratus Suff. Under surface irrorated with dark, without the longitudinal stripe in cellule 1 c of the hindwing. ab. ehmckei Dew. Distal margin of the hindwing distinctly angled at vein 4. Otherwise only differs from neanthes in having both wings above broadly whitish at the base and beneath without distinct median band. Angola, f. phanera Jord. has in the male a distinct angle at vein 4 of the hindwing and less extended black markings on the forewing, but otherwise agrees with zoolina. Angola. ab. betsimisaraka Luc. occurs on Madagascar and only differs from zoolina in the hindwing of the male having a distinct though small tooth at the end of vein 4 and in the transverse streak at the end of the cell of the forewing only reaching the base of vein 3. f. betanimena Luc. corresponds to f. neanthes , but is darker and with the marginal band darker rust-brown and more continuous.

The hindwing in the male distinctly toothed at vein 4. Wings beneath without median band, or with this sharply pronounced and margined with white [is] ab. andriba Ward. Madagascar. [4]
Biology

Flight period is from October to June.[5] The habitat is forest.

Larvae feed on Entada - Entada spicata, Entada abyssinica, Entada natalensis, Acacia natalitia, Acacia schweinfurthi, Acacia brevispica, and Acacia kraussiana.[3][5]
Female, under and upperside
Subspecies

Listed alphabetically.[3]

C. z. betsimisaraka Lucas, 1872 [6] (Madagascar)
C. z. ehmckei Homeyer and Dewitz, 1882 [7] (Angola)
C. z. mafugensis Jackson, 1956[8] (south-western Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, north-western Tanzania)
C. z. zoolina (Westwood, [1850]) (southern Sudan, southern Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, north-eastern Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini)

Taxonomy

Charaxes zoolina 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, 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

Coetzer, B.H.; Westrip, J.R.S. (2020). "Charaxes zoolina". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T161322646A161322650. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T161322646A161322650.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
Westwood, J.O. [1850] in Doubleday & Westwood, [1846-52]. The genera of diurnal Lepidoptera, London: 309 (1:1-250 pp.; 2: 251-534 pp.). London.
"Charaxes Ochsenheimer, 1816" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
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.
Woodhall, Steve (2005). Field Guide to Butterflies of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik. ISBN 978-1-86872-724-7.
Lucas , H. 1872. Description de quelques lepidopteres appartenant aux genres Charaxes et Cyligramma et provenant du voyage de Alf. Grandidier a Madagascar. Annales des Sciences Naturelles (5) 15 (No. 22): 1-4.
Homeyer, A.V., & Dewitz, H. 1882. Drei neue westafrikanishe Charaxes. Berliner Entomologiche Zeitschrift 26: 381-383.

Jackson, , T.H.E. 1956. Notes on the Rhopalocera of the Kigezi district of Uganda with descriptions of new species and subspecies. Journal of the East Africa Natural History Society 23: 63-102.

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