Butterflies of
Africa
Clouded Bematistes
Acraea umbra
DRURY, 1782
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
HELICONIINAE
Tribe - ACRAEINI
Acraea
umbra, male, Amedzofe, 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. In many, including
umbra, these spots also appear on the upper
surface of the wings.
Acraea
umbra is a large butterfly, and in common with most of the other large
Acraea species was formerly placed in the genus Bematistes,
hence the vernacular name. It is distributed from Sierra Leone to Uganda.
Habitats
This species is a forest butterfly, but is quite tolerant of habitat
degradation. Thus it can be seen flying deep in the forest, and also along
roadsides in forested countryside.
Lifecycle
The
larval foodplant is thought to be Adenia (
Passifloraceae ).
Adult behaviour
The butterfly is usually seen singly. Like other
Acraea species it is particularly
fond of nectaring at
Eupatorium odorata.
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