Butterflies of
Africa
Dancing Acraea
Acraea serena
FABRICIUS, 1775
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
HELICONIINAE
Tribe - ACRAEINI
Acraea serena,
Aburi, Ghana
Introduction
There
are about 220 species in the genus Acraea, all
Afrotropical in distribution, with the exception of 3 species (
violae and issoria
from the Oriental region, and andromacha from Australia
& Papua New Guinea ). The vast majority of species are found in the forests and
savannahs of East Africa, while about 60 are found in West Africa.
All
Acraea species have elongate forewings and rounded hindwings. The wings
are thinly scaled and in many species are semi-transparent.
The scales wear off very easily so that insects more than 4 or 5
days old have a glassy or greasy appearance. The majority of species
have a predominantly brownish or greyish ground colour, marked with
bands or patches of red or orange. The basal area of the underside hindwings of most
species is marked with a pattern of small black spots.
Acraea
serena is found across the entire African continent, including Madagascar
and most of the smaller islands.
Habitats
This species inhabits savannah / woodland mosaics, secondary forest and forest
clearings, coastal grassland and dunes, farmland, parks, gardens and wasteland, from
sea level to about 1500m.
Lifecycle
The main larval foodplant is
Triumfetta ( Tiliaceae ), but
Hibiscus,
Sida ( Malvaceae ), Dombeyia,
Melochia,
Waltheria, ( Sterculiaceae ), Nicotiana ( Soliaceae ),
Cordia
( Ehretiaceae ),
Gmelina and
Tectona ( Verbenaceae ) are also recorded.
Adult behaviour
The butterflies are usually seen in
two's and three's, sometimes in larger numbers flying in open
sunlit areas.
In late afternoon they gather in sheltered areas to roost among
tall grasses.
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